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The Way of Jesus: The Descending Path

As we approach Holy Week, a time in the Christian calendar that calls us to reflect deeply on the central events of Jesus’ life, it offers us an opportunity to meditate on the meaning of the cross and its profound relevance to our spiritual lives today. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday each highlight aspects of this “descending path”—a path that calls us to embrace the world’s pain and suffering, not avoid it, and to find resurrection and transformation through that embrace.

Ken Wilber, a well-known philosopher, makes an interesting distinction between two kinds of spiritual paths: ascending and descending.

· The ascending path is about transcending or rising above the world. It’s the search for enlightenment, liberation, or escape from suffering—often found in practices that seek to lift the soul above earthly concerns.

· The descending path, on the other hand, invites us to go into the world’s pain and suffering. It’s about embracing life as it is, including all of its challenges and hardships, and finding meaning and spiritual depth through that embrace. It’s not a path away from the world, but a path into the heart of it.

For Christians, the cross is the ultimate symbol of this descending path. It represents Jesus’ willingness to enter fully into human suffering—to bear the weight of the world’s pain, injustice, and brokenness. Jesus’ journey during Holy Week is the most powerful example of this path. From the intimate moment of sharing a meal with His disciples on Maundy Thursday, to His arrest and crucifixion on Good Friday, Jesus shows us that the path to resurrection and life comes through the willingness to descend into suffering.

When Jesus says, “Whoever loses their life will find it,” He’s speaking of this deep spiritual truth: true life comes not from escaping the world, but from fully engaging with it. The cross shows us that embracing suffering is not only part of the human experience, but also a way to connect more deeply with God and with each other. As we remember these pivotal events during Holy Week, we are invited to reflect on how we, too, might live this path.

One of the most powerful ways we can walk the descending path is through prayer and spiritual practice. Prayer isn’t just about asking for things or seeking comfort; it’s a way to connect deeply with God in both our joys and our pain.

As we enter into the observances of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we are invited to reflect on how prayer allows us to embrace God’s presence in our own suffering. Prayer opens our hearts to the suffering of others, just as Jesus embraced His own suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. Through contemplative prayer and moments of stillness, we come to realize that true spiritual growth doesn’t come from avoiding suffering, but from embracing it, transforming it, and allowing God to work through it.

The descending path is not just a theological concept; it has real, practical implications for how we live day-to-day. Here are a few ways we can embody this path, particularly as we walk through Holy Week:

· Compassionate action: Engaging with the world’s pain—whether it’s injustice, personal suffering, or global issues—by showing love and care for others, just as Jesus showed compassion to His followers and those in need.

· Prayerful presence: Being present with others in their pain, just as Jesus was present with us in His suffering. This can mean simply listening, offering support, or showing up when someone is hurting.

· Embracing our own challenges: Understanding that growth often comes through struggle. By inviting God into our own suffering, we allow God to transform it and help us grow spiritually through the experience. This is especially meaningful as we reflect on Jesus’ own suffering and ultimate resurrection.

As we enter into Holy Week with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, we are reminded that the descending path is the way of Jesus. It’s a path that leads through suffering but also into resurrection. The cross, which symbolizes Jesus’ radical love and identification with our pain, shows us that spiritual life doesn’t come from avoiding the world’s brokenness, but from entering into it, fully present, with love and compassion. Through prayer, compassionate action, and a willingness to embrace the pain of the world, we walk the same path that Jesus walked—transforming suffering into grace and resurrection.

Prayer and Meditation For Pain Relief

Are you feeling stressed out lately? Not tending to that stress can have a significant impact on your well-being. Not only does it affect your emotional health, but it also erodes your physical and spiritual health. So, what happens in our bodies when we are stressed? To answer that, we need to know more about the nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system has two parts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic (also known as the “rest and digest” state), and when your nervous system is dysregulated, it becomes out of balance.

The sympathetic nervous system, responsible for managing stressful incidents and emergencies, becomes overly dominant.  So your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you calm down, relax, and rest, is unable to exert any significant control over how you are feeling, thinking, or behaving.

In other words, the “fight or flight” stress response becomes overly active, putting your body in a very stressful, high-alert state.

Long-term stressors can cause constant unease, uncertainty, and worry. This can also happen due to past traumas or continuous exposure to stressful “breaking news”. Traumatic experiences manifest in our body, making it think we are constantly in a state of emergency, and this is where the term dysregulation comes in. Our brain and body, when under constant stress or as a result of extreme trauma, is, over time, less and less able to enter into the ‘rest and digest’ state…which can impact our mental and physical health.

What can that look like?

· Difficulty focusing and regulating emotions

· Sleep disturbances

· Digestive problems

· Physical expressions of emotional symptoms, like headaches or unexplained body pains

· Physiological responses such as heart racing, dizziness, and feeling out of control

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· Body tension

· Sudden feelings of panic or dread

· Explosions of emotions that don’t necessarily call for a drastic response

If you’ve made it this far in this article, you probably wonder if you’ve picked up a medical newsletter instead of a church one. Hang with me for a little longer, and you will see where this is going. Gratefully, some of our spiritual practices are excellent tools for regulating the nervous system. Done consistently, our bodies, minds, and spirits can find a place of health and rest over time.  Look at the list of ailments above. How much time have you spent chasing down solutions to these problems? The solution is in you and has been all along.

If you want to learn more about these practices, join me on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. beginning on February 26^th. We are calling it Prayer and Meditation for Pain Relief. These practices help regulate the nervous system and help our body produce endorphins, which are natural pain relievers. So, spend some time in God’s presence amongst friends and heal.

When stress comes your way, and it indeed will, you will have the tools to regulate yourself. You will be able to be fully present to act out of a place of calm rather than reactivity and fear.

 ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

The Lancaster Heritage Chorale will be presenting their final concert for the 2024 Christmas season in our sanctuary at 4:00 pm on Sunday, January 5, 2025.  This is a wonderful way to spend a cold winter afternoon.  If you have never attended one of the Chorale’s concerts you are in for a treat.

Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, 3131 Columbia Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603

A couple months ago I was excited to see that a new movie was coming out that had Bonhoeffer as its central figure. Now, Bonhoeffer is a notoriously challenging figure to pin down. And he was active during a time in our history that was very complex. So we decided to prepare ourselves for this by digging into a series called Theologians Under Hitler. For those of you who participated in that we had our eyes opened about how the church became sometimes reluctantly complicit and other times enthusiastically complicit in the Nazi agenda. We had some of our questions answered about how this could happen. Move forward a few months and now the movie is out and I am profoundly disappointed. Let me tell you why.

Fifteen years ago, Stephen Haynes examined the varied interpretations of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian whose legacy is often contested. Was Bonhoeffer a conservative longing to restore Germany or a progressive challenging dogmatic traditions? Was he a church-focused thinker or an activist prioritizing social action? His complex writings, sermons, and correspondence defy easy categorization and often reflect more about those interpreting him than about Bonhoeffer himself.

The new film Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. exemplifies this problem, turning Bonhoeffer into a malleable figure serving modern political narratives. Produced by Angel Studios, the film portrays him as a theologian-turned-political agent, sacrificing theological convictions for espionage and activism.

While the film’s biographical elements—Bonhoeffer’s education, time at Union Theological Seminary, resistance to the Nazis, and eventual execution—are accurate, the narrative exaggerates and dramatizes his life. For instance, Bonhoeffer’s year in New York and his exposure to racism become scenes of him leading a jazz band and confronting racist violence. His underground seminary, intended to train clergy, is framed as a hub for political rebellion.

As the film progresses, Bonhoeffer disavows pacifism, prioritizing Hitler’s assassination over his theological principles. This portrayal misrepresents historical evidence. While Bonhoeffer likely knew of assassination plots, his writings suggest his resistance remained grounded in faith and nonviolence—helping smuggle Jews and sharing Nazi intelligence through church networks.

By framing Bonhoeffer as an assassin, the film sacrifices historical nuance for drama, aligning its narrative with Eric Metaxas’ controversial biography. Both the movie and Metaxas emphasize political action over Bonhoeffer’s deeper convictions, reshaping his legacy into a template for modern ideological battles.

In reality, Bonhoeffer’s life demonstrated steadfast Christian resistance, even in the face of immense pressure to compromise. His writings, including reflections on loving enemies and standing by Christ’s teachings, challenge the film’s narrative of moral flexibility.

Rather than glorifying political violence or theological radicalism, Bonhoeffer’s story reminds us of the church’s call to faithfulness over political expedience. By focusing on this, the film could have offered a powerful example of Christian courage in tumultuous times—something sorely needed today.

So, feel free to go see the movie if you like. But if you do, I also hope you will join us for Sunday School. In the new year, we will dive deeply into this fascinating figure over six sessions.

Lessons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a House Divided and a World on Fire

Join us for 6 weeks as we explore the life and theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the lessons we can use as we live at the intersection of faith and civic life today. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian living in Nazi Germany, who eventually joined the resistance and was arrested and killed before the end of WWII. This curriculum was compiled by Dr. Lori Brandt Hale, an internationally renowned Bonhoeffer scholar and president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section. Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania is a partner in distributing to congregations to inspire deeper conversation and discernment about how we live as disciples.

As we enter November, gratitude becomes a natural theme woven into our lives. Surrounded by the beauty of fall, we’re reminded of the many blessings God provides daily, both seen and unseen. Gratitude is not just a feeling but a choice we make to see God’s hand in every part of our journey.

This month, we’re reflecting on what it means to live with a heart of gratitude. Gratitude invites us to find joy in small moments, to recognize the strength we gain from challenges, and to see each person in our lives as a gift. Ephesians 5:20 reminds us to “give thanks always and for everything to God the Father.” When we cultivate gratitude, we grow closer to God and are better equipped to share His love with others.

Our church community has several opportunities this month to express and live out gratitude. Join us for our next Second Sunday event. We will be expressing our gratitude to our service members by taking up a collection of care items for patients at the Lebanon VA hospital. We are also putting our Help Thy Neighbor Fund to use with a donation to the Food Hub. The Food Hub along with area congregations are working on addressing the acute homelessness issue in downtown Lancaster. Some of these funds will be used to connect our houseless neighbors to much needed resources such as porta potties as we wait for the shelter construction at Otterbein Methodist Church to be finished. I am grateful for your generosity and the ability we have to be able to respond to urgent needs such as this.

Gratitude is contagious—it lifts us, strengthens us, and brings us closer to one another and to God. Let us carry this heart of gratitude into every day, allowing it to transform the way we live, give, and worship.