On Level Ground Exploring the Spirituality of Jesus: And Cultivating The Art of Sustoicheó/συστοιχέω (Alignment)

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; and may your Spirit
lead me on to level ground. -Psalm 143:10

In recent years, we have explored Jesus’s healings, miracles, actions, exorcisms, relationships, and primary teachings. In Scripture Seekers Bible Study we are now studying Jesus’s parables with Dr. Amy-Jill Levine as our guide. And I have decided that in this remarkable and exhausting year, during the Season of Lent, we are going to bring a new lens to the conversation and explore Jesus’s spirituality.

Most of us think of Jesus as an important part of our spirituality. But what can we learn from closely examining his connection with God and the spiritual world, and his connection with his community, with his neighbors, and with those in political and religious authority around him?

This seems like an important conversation to have when Christian Nationalists in the US are getting out of alignment with who Jesus was so drastically. His ministry and life are tutorials in spiritual alignment. His actions, thoughts, feelings, and words usually match up- which is one of the key things that makes him such a fully divine fully human force to be reckoned with. Jesus invites us to live in alignment too, and it is a life-long challenge. If we can get even a little closer to the way Jesus does it- and stand on the “level ground” he does our spiritual journey(s) will deepen, and our joy will be more complete (John 15:11)

The Greeks called alignment sustoicheó: συστοιχέω: Sustoicheó means literally: “to file together as soldiers in ranks or straight (or for some of us: gayly forward) lines.” Sustoicheó is about being lined up, and parallel with or in alignment with something. There is also a sense of being “level” which is why Psalm 143 is so relevant to our conversation. Sustoicheó shows up in the Pauline scriptures one time in Galatians, in a bit different context. But sustoicheó strikes me as a terrific descriptor for the way Jesus lived and walked in alignment spiritually.

"The Thousand Columns" at Chichén Itzá. (Yucatan, Mexico)

So, I invite you to join us at UCH on Zoom and Livestream during the Lenten Season for: On Level Ground: Exploring the Spirituality of Jesus and Cultivating the Art of Sustoicheó/συστοιχέω. Here are some things we will be chewing on. -Rev. Jeanne

1st Sunday of Lent: What is Jesus’ relationship with the spiritual world and what does that have to do with how he moves and aligns himself in the physical world? (We will look in-depth at Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and his conversation with Satan in Luke 4: 1-13)
2nd Sunday of Lent: What is Jesus’ relationship with scripture? (What did Jesus choose for his first sermon? And how is that choice in alignment with his ministry? Luke 4: 16-21)
3rd Sunday of Lent: What does Jesus’ prayer life look like? (We’ll look at what we can know of Jesus’ prayer life and explore “The Lord’s Prayer.” How does prayer keep Jesus and us aligned? Matthew 6 and Luke 11)
4th Sunday of Lent: How was Jesus in relationship with others? And what does that say about his spirituality? (We will do a deep dive into Matthew 25: “When you do it for the least of these, you have done it for me” and talk about Jesus call for us to align our values with the Kindom of God rather than the Kingdoms of the World.)
5th Sunday of Lent: What is the most powerful and useful spiritual alignment metaphor Jesus uses in the scriptures? I’m going to argue it is “The Vine and the Branches” in John 15. We’ll get into it and see what you think.
6th Sunday of Lent (Palm Sunday): What gets under Jesus’ (sometimes very human) skin and how does he manage it? What does what he gets upset about say about his alignment and spirituality? We’ll invite him to give us a spiritual justice tutorial on how to stay aligned and turn over tables when the situation requires. On this Palm Sunday we will enter into Jerusalem with Hosannas and explore Jesus’ cleansing of the temple right after the party in Luke 19: 41-48.