What Does Expression of Divine Love mean?

Folx with Faith uses the tagline, “Expressions of divine love,” but what does this really mean? At Folx with Faith, we acknowledge the divinity within everyone. There are some religious traditions that have taught us that we are separate from God and many of those same religions claim to hold the keys to the reconnection to this God. However, there are also just as many religious traditions that teach us that we could never be separate from God. That our divine nature, higher self, or Christ nature is innate within us and that our feeling of separation is only a result of a belief that we are separated.

Our True Nature

Many LGBTQIA+ individuals have been made to feel unworthy, not only because of the myth that we are separate from our Source, but also because some of those traditions teach us that it is wrong to be who we truly are. While our community and connection with others can absolutely hold a positive impact on our spiritual development, the truth is that no person or organization has the power to take away our worthiness or deny us who we truly are. This is why engaging with existing affirming communities can be so integral to our spiritual growth when it is accompanied by personal spiritual practice.

Yoga: A Path to Divinity, Not Just an Exercise!

The message of our true nature is found in many spiritual traditions. When people think of Yoga, they often think of the posturing exercises that can connect our body and mind. However, the exercises are one part of a broader tradition that originates within an ancient spiritual tradition that emphasizes our connection with the divine. The Yogic tradition includes many ways to connect to divinity and has a core spiritual tradition associated with it.

For example, a common mantra in the Yogic tradition, call the Purna, and originated from the Isha Upanishad goes:

Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti

This can be translated in several ways. Here are two common ways to understand this from swamij.com.

The mantra starts out with Om, which in this tradition is considered the primal sound of all of creation. It’s the vibration behind all that is. Then the mantra continues to say, “this is absolute, that is absolute. From the absolute, the absolute becomes manifest. When absolute is added to or taken away from the absolute, only absolute remains.” Then it goes on to say, “Om, shanti, shanti, shanti.” Shanti is a word meaning peace. Indicating that we find our peace in the truth behind this mantra.

Baggage and the Word God

The term God often carries a lot of baggage for people and rightly so. This is a term that is used in the modern vernacular to mean many different things to different people. It has often been used to describe a being that is like a human, but just slightly more powerful. It has been used to describe a judgmental being with an angry personality and has also been described as a loving entity. However, like in the Vedic mantra, God goes beyond a personality. God is absolute, God is perfection, or as we say in Folx with Faith, God is divine love. There is a Daniel Nahmod song that has powerful lyrics that say, “Call it God, call it Spirit, call it Jesus, call it Lord. Call it Buddha, Baháʼu’lláh, Angels Wings, or Heaven’s Door. But whatever name you give it, it’s all One Power can’t you see. It’s the power of the love in you and me.”

One Power · Daniel Nahmod One Power ℗ 2002
Nimble Notes Record Company
Released on: 2002-01-01
Auto-generated by YouTube.

Limited Language

The challenge is that when we talk about things like God, our language can be limiting, because the Source of all things is ineffable (without adequate words to describe). Even the phrase Jesus used, “Our Father,” is limiting, because it often makes us think that God is a man. However, God really transcends the human concept of gender. Terms like he or she, Mother or Father, are frequently used to describe divinity, because it is often the best way to describe divinity using the limitation of our own language. These terms, however, can constrain our understanding, because it humanizes something that is absolute and ineffable. The best thing we can do as humans is to use the words that are best suited for our own experiences.

Another way to understand this is that perfection (the absolute) or God created all things. However, everything that is in existence is still intrinsically part of the Source of existence, since only God exists. It doesn’t matter what is added to or taken away, everything is still an intrinsic part of God. This is the core meaning behind, “Expressions of divine love.” We are each individualized expressions of divine love. I heard a teacher once say, “We are not all that God is, but all that we are is God.” Our personal spiritual practices and engagement with spiritual community can often play a significant role in our ability to understand our true nature.

We Are the Children of Divine Love

From the Christian tradition, Jesus also acknowledged this truth. He identified fully with God by saying he was the son of God. He also affirmed that we are each children of God and encouraged us to acknowledge this as we pray by starting our prayers with, “Our Father…” (Matthew 6:9-13 NRSVUE)A child has the same attributes as the parent with whom he or she originates. This is the same idea as being an expression of divine love, because God is divine love. In fact, in 1 John 4:7-8 we encouraged to love one another, because in doing so we know God, because “God is love.”

Diversity and Divine Nature

This creative force has manifested itself in a variety of diverse ways, such as birds, fish, and other animals. It has manifested itself as a universe filled with diverse astrological bodies. And it has manifested itself as us. The spiritual and religious traditions have done their best to carry the message of our true nature as expressions of divine love. However, there are times when the messages provided to us by our religious upbringing can get lost in translation. It’s like playing the telephone game. One person tells another person and by the time it reaches us, the message has changed. One such message lost in translation is related to the LGBTQIA+ community. While we are now seeing greater and greater acceptance of diversity of human experience among religious communities, many in the LGBTQIA+ community still feel disconnected from our spiritual selves because some religious systems have rejected our uniqueness. This does not change who we are as expressions of divine love, but it can absolutely influence our relationship to the experience of the fundamental reality of our divine connection.

A Year of Empowerment as Expressions of Divine Love

Over the next twelve months, starting in January, Folx with Faith will create the space for LGBTQIA+ people to discuss our truest and authentic nature. We will be discussing twelve spiritual attributes or powers that each of us has access to as expressions of divine love. Powers such as wisdom, faith, understanding, love, and more! The focus of the next year will be on spiritual empowerment that will allow us to fully identify with our true nature as expressions of divine love.

Exploring Faith in January

We will start off the year with the topic of faith. We are Folx with Faith after all! We are encouraging our local groups to facilitate conversations and providing resources for discussion of these universal topics. Our core online content and virtual meetings for the month of January will also be focused on the topic of faith. If you would like to join us for our virtual sessions, we will continue to host these on the fourth Saturday of each month at 10:30 AM CT. You can go to our events page to find out more about these events.

In the following months we will be discussing topics such as strength, wisdom, love, and so much more! As always, our goal is to create and support inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals to feel safe and comfortable to explore their own spiritual progress and assist in building a community of strength and hope consistent with the mission of Folx with Faith.

How You Can Support Our Mission?

You can help us fulfill our mission by donating to Folx with Faith or starting a local group. It is our mission to create safe spaces to explore and experience spiritual wholeness. Folx with Faith supports the queer community, fostering a celebration of our authentic beings and empowering us to make a difference in the world. If you would like to contribute to this mission or would like to start a local chapter, please let us know. You can contact us or use the links below.

Events

Join us for upcoming virtual events. We host live events the forth Thursday of each month.

Contact Us

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Find a Group

Find or start a local group.