SpringHouse Mathematics

SpringHouse Mathematics
James Oliver Smith, Jr
2011 1205
http://josjr.com

When I met with Don Portwood (pastor of Lyndale UCC in Minneapolis, Minnesota) in the fall of 1997 I was trying to get a better sense of who I was. I had just become divorced after twenty five years and had actually considered totally eliminating anything resembling a church from my life. Forty six years of trying to fit into a spiritual tradition of some kind had become a weary process. They all seemed hell-bent on convincing the world that they were right and the rest of the world was wrong. Up to that point everything in my life was influenced, dictated or judged by some element associated with the "church". The "church" had come to represent intollerance, inflexibility and judgement, despite the lipservice given to abused terms and phrases concerning "love", "compassion" and "peace". What I wanted was community. A truly open, embracing and seeking community.

I had come close concluding that I would never find community in a church, at least as my "self" since every church I had encountered previously had some idea on what my "self" should be. The problem was that growing up in a Christian fundamentalist home that expected complete commitment to the church, with no respect for any other perspective on the universe and no apparent respect for personal boundaries, left me with no sense of what the alternatives were, or could be. I wanted to find a spiritual community where anyone could be what they are, regardless of the spiritual perspectives held, with a collective desire to explore all aspects of human spirituality, social interaction, sexual orientation and sexual identity.

I had heard that the United Church of Christ held "liberal" views and I felt that I was ready to come out, openly, as a "liberal" perlson. So, a quick (pre-google) internet search revealed that there was a UCC close by my apartment in Uptown. I walked into the "church" on 31st and Aldrich in Minneapolis, despite is rather traditional, if not gothic presence to see just exactly what was waiting for me in Lyndale United Church of Christ (where UCC is affectionately and ironically interpreted as Uniterians Considering Christ).

What I found was a community of lifetime members, recovering fundamentalists, recovering catholics, gays, lesbians, people comfortable with the 'J' (Jesus), 'C' (Christ) and 'P' (Paul) words and those uncomfortable with them. This was (and still is) a place where discussions on the "gender" of god, the relationship between religions and the nature of humanity can all be vibrantly discussed with respect and openness.

When the cost of the physical building became became too burdensome for the community, a solution was sought. The Universe revealed opportunities that a more rigidly defined traditional church would have rejected outright. The path selected was to join together with (ultimately) two other spiritual communities from different spiritual traditions. I will call it a "path" rather than a "solution" because a "path" is on-going. A "solution" implies something said-and-done. If there is anything I can say definitively about Lyndale UCC, it would be that there is _nothing_ "said-and-done" in the context of this spiritual community.

This "path" that has witnessed the converging of three spiritual communities into a single path with three separate identities is an interesting twist on the three-in-one paradigm that so many spiritual traditions have explored for millenia, from the triple goddess to the christian trinity ... three in one ... one in three ... it is a mystery ... it is mysterious ... it is mystical --- mythical --- and completely non-mathematical ... but ... this is a spiritual community that thrives on such curiosities as (1 + 1 + 1 = 1) and ((1 / 3) = 1) and (3 / 1) = 1 and yet (1 * 1 * 1) = 3) ... In other words 1 = 3. Or in culinary terms, each of the three pieces of the pie, is a whole pie. Even JC and Buddha and all of the other spirit guides who decide to travel this path would find the journey exhilerating.

So, what would such an entity call itself? ... There is an answer now ... 1 + 1 + 1 = Spring House (Ministry Center). Not a pump house (for water siphoned mechanically to the surface). Not a warming house (for ice fishing and hockey players). Not a church house (for browbeating and brimstone) ... but ... rather ... a _Spring House_, a place built around an artesian spring well, a place taking advantage of that which occurs naturally, a stream that bubbles up from the Earth with the waters that nourish us all. The spring doesn't check for appropriate credentials from each creature that arrives for sustenance. It is there for all of life that has sprung from the womb of the Earth and all that will survive on the plant and animal (spirit) life that is nourished by the waters beneath the Earth.

One aspect of my emerging spiritual journey comes from the synchronistic elements that spring from the ancient Book of Changes, also called the I Ching. In the context of this system of archetypal images (Earth, Sky, Fire, Water, Thunder, Wind, Mountain, Lake) there are 64 different relationships. "Springhouse" brings to mind the image of Earth over Lake. Earth represents the belly, the center of our existence and the creation of all life. Lake represents the mouth, joy, expression and water that has gathered into the cavities and riverbeds upon and within the Earth, a kind of circulatory system of arteries, veins and capillaries that distribute life throughout the Earth. Earth over Lake is also one of the 12 tidal signs representing the ebb and flow of seeking (yang) and embracing (yin) forces across the twelve complete cycles of the moon. It is associated with January and the approaching end of winter and the beginning of spring.

My stream of life, my journey, my path, has flowed into the path of Lyndale UCC, just as the stream of Lyndale UCC [http://www.lyndaleucc.org] has converged with the streams of Salem Lutheran [http://discoversalem.com] and First Christian (Disciples of Christ) [http://fccminneapolis.org] and will soon break _from_ the ground into the Spring House, from which many will drink alongside others who have drunk and continue to drink. Lois will be there, just as Ko, Joann, Michael and many others from all three streams. Many will be drinking in the future and there will be no checking of spiritual credentials before someone can lower the ladle and lift the music and joy and warmth and vibration that has sprung from the Earth from the inner, Lake of life-sustaining water ... 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 ... "That's very curious!" [Alice] thought. "I think I may as well go in at once." And in she went ... into the SpringHouse ... il matto ...