Whenever we talk about spiritual matters, the danger is that they will stay in the abstract, in the mind, in the ether, and never come down to earth to affect our day to day lives. And when we speak to people of the Way, one of the first questions asked is, "How do you do it?" "How do you get from here to there?" The words may change, but the question is the same: this all looks good on paper, but how does it work?

There is good news and bad news here: the good news is that no one just tells you about the Way, you get to go see and experience it for yourself. The bad news is that no one can just tell you about the Way, you've got to go see and experience it for yourself. Whether that news is good or bad depends on your point of view and attitude.

Jesus didn't write a theology for us in the Gospels. And he didn't explain in detail the inner workings of the Way. Jesus was sometimes maddeningly elusive about the Way from our linear, Western point of view, because he wasn't trying to explain anything. He was trying to engage us in a journey that would "explain" everything. "Seek first the Kingdom...and all else will be added," is an expression of this. In our culture, we could call it the "Dorothy Syndrome." We're all wearing our ruby slippers that will take us home at any moment, but no one can tell us how they work; we've got to figure it out for ourselves. Each moment of our lives contains everything God has to give us; we just have to wake up and see.

Jesus didn't so much give us the answers, he gave us a starting point. He showed us what the final product looked like--himself--and he described what it felt like to be on the Way, in Kingdom, and how it felt not to be. He knew there was no more to tell, because it's only on the Way that we get our answers--directly from God and from each other as we learn to live and love as God lives and loves.

So ask again, "How do we get from here to there?" One answer... "Start with the things we can be sure of." And Jesus told us we can be very sure of how we should live with and love each other--as we love ourselves, as Jesus loved everyone in his path. Start there. When all else fails, we can be sure of this much. Put everything else out of mind. All the conflicting theologies and doctrines and recipes for salvation are ultimately at best interpretation and at worst speculation. Put your feet on the yellow brick road and set out. Seek first Kingdom, and let God speak. Become convinced of what you will be convinced of. You will find out who you really are only in relation to who God is.

And who God is only comes clear in the light of the burning bushes you encounter along the Way.