If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority … If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause [people] everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will . . .
~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The prophetic zeal of New Thought is the Spiritual Imperative to remain consistently and consciously Open at the Top, to engage the world of effects and conditions as active emissaries of Love and Law who are effectively manifesting and stewarding a world that works for all.
If we are honest, this is terrifying to many of us because it demands that we do the work. It demands that we move our feet, that we move beyond the metaphysical malpractice of “solo spirituality.”
44 …‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ ~Matthew 25
It is the understanding that I live in an apartment building and if your unit is burning, it makes no sense whatsoever for me to say, “It’s not my fire so it’s not my concern.” “I don’t believe in fire, that’s not in my consciousness.” “This teaching is about me doing my spiritual practices and you doing yours, your apartment is on fire, that is for you to work on, not me.” Sounds ludicrous and yet we say things like this all the time when it applies to poverty, racism, homophobia, sexism, etc.
We affirm, “there is only One Life,” and somehow, we want to compartmentalize that life as if what happens in one place has little to no effect on another.
“…Spirit is in everything, and if it is unbroken, and if it is undivided and does not express itself in fragments but in a totality,…” ~ Anatomy of Healing Prayer
The Good Samaritan demonstrates this Prophetic Zeal. He saw a person in need and he did what was his to do.
Are we as a movement ready to do the same?
Are you ready?
Rev. Dr. Raymont Anderson
As an Ordained Centers for Spiritual Living Minister, he currently serves as the Spiritual Director of The Center for Spiritual Living Greater Baltimore.
Within The Centers for Spiritual Living Organization, he is serving as a recently appointed Commissioner on the Spiritually Motivated Social Engagement Committee which supports CSL's Spiritual Leader, Dr. Edward Viljoen (pronounced full-YOON), in formulating and expressing official CSL statements addressing world events. The SMSE also creates webinars and training on how to approach social and global issues based on CSL's teachings and values. Rev. Dr. Ray has been one of the members of the Cultural Integrity & Evolution Committee where he worked alongside several amazing individuals (Spiritual Mavericks), as we synergized with each committee and council represented within CSL to generate the themes to be used globally for 2020, 2021, and 2021. He also served briefly on the Diversity and Inclusion Commission. He has also been working with several people within New Thought as a whole, on creating resources for members of the Deaf, the BIPOC, and the LGBTQIA2+ community.
Ultimately the goal is to establish synergistic collaborations within the organization (Centers for Spiritual Living), within New Thought, and within various other Faith traditions, community organizations, and beyond so that everyone is seen, recognized, listened to, heard, valued, and given space to be themselves… so that everyone, however, the Divine expresses ItSelf as you: African American, Latine, Caucasian, Asian Pacific Islander, Deaf, hearing, Straight or LGBTQ2IA+, Differently Abled, Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc., understand their own Divinity.
He worked briefly on the steering committee for the CSL World Ministry of Prayer, in June 2020 during the Re-Imagine Summit, Rev. Dr. Ray had the distinct honor and pleasure of being on a global panel with several esteemed colleagues in the CSL movement.
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