On the Margins

We can learn the wisdom of the mystics from the most unlikely of sources.

Perhaps contemplative spaces can be found wherever people skirt the margins of inclusion. Perhaps those whom we value least have the most to teach. — Barbara A. Holmes

It has been said that the mystics have always been found on the margins. Historically, that has been true in very concrete and physical ways — from the desert mothers and fathers living on the edge of the Roman Empire, to the many centuries of contemplative monks and nuns dwelling on the cloistered edge of the church. But this is not just a matter of physical decentralization, for many of the saints, mystics and spiritual luminaries within Christianity and the world at large have emerged from “beyond the margins of inclusion.” The Buddha threw away his privilege, and Jesus of Nazareth didn’t have much privilege to begin with. Either way, they ended up beyond the pale of power and respectability, and yet even so they changed the world.

Theologian Barbara A. Holmes (1943-2024) wrote an essential book on the contemplative dimension of African-American Christianity, Joy Unspeakable, where she offers this bold assertion: “Perhaps those we value least have the most to teach.” This has immediate Implications with social privilege: women, persons of color, and queer persons all have much to say to the institutional church (if the church bothers to listen). But we should not limit Holme’s wisdom to just those who are excluded on the institutional level: each one of us might consider who it is that we tend to undervalue? Perhaps a child or an elderly relative; perhaps that socially awkward person at church who dresses funny and talks just a bit too loud.

Maybe it’s hard to imagine such a person teaching us about contemplation, but I suspect that can be because we sometimes have limited ideas about what “real” contemplation entails. Mind you, I love the sweetness of a monastic-like period of silence where I can settle into Centering Prayer as much as anyone else, but if I understand Barbara Holmes correctly, I need to work on having a broader appreciation of contemplation. The Spirit can meet us anywhere — and sometimes the most unlikely person can be our guide.

Quotation source: Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church, (Kindle Edition), p. 11.