020: Living a 'big life' as a spiritual seeker with author Luther Smith
A better way to build beloved community
Author and Professor Emeritus of Church and Community, Candler School of Theology, Emory University
Luther and I originally had coffee at The Corner Cup in Tucker and then ran it back for a video podcast; unfortunately we had some connectivity issues so the recording of our conversation was cut short. This is the audio version:
—
A meaningful link in an unfolding chain
Dr. Luther E. Smith, Jr. is an ordained elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and a retired professor from Emory’s Candler School of Theology.
His research focuses on the writings of Howard Thurman, advocacy on behalf of children, and the spirituality of hope.
In this edition we cover how Luther was inspired by Howard Thurman, Luther’s guidance for us on our own processes of spiritual seeking, and his new book ‘Hope is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community’.
I was introduced to Howard Thurman’s writing during the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in 2020. I learned that he cofounded an interracial Fellowship Church for All Peoples in San Francisco in 1944. He was the first African American to travel to India to meet with Mahatma Gandhi. He was a professor of religion at Morehouse College, Howard University, Boston University, and was influential in the life of Martin Luther King Jr., including in the theological underpinnings of nonviolent social activism.
I read Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited and have a (thoroughly dog-eared) copy of his Meditations of the Heart.
Thurman has an uncanny ability to document an intimate inner experience of God both in times of powerful, joyful consolation, but also in moments of isolating despair and desolation. I felt myself reflected in many of his meditations, especially those where he surgically exposes his shortcomings and prays to God to help him walk a better, more faithful path.
Like Howard Thurman, Luther Smith is a man who has devoted his life to building bridges of mutual understanding and our shared spiritual yearning for community marked by justice, peace, and joy. I
Luther’s integration of spirituality, racial justice, and reconciliation is highly relevant in Atlanta. From our legacy as an epicenter of the Civil Rights movement to becoming one of the leading majority-minority cities in America, we have an opportunity and obligation to seek the ‘beloved community’ that Dr. King espoused - where diversity and unity powerfully coexist.
This is how Luther closed an email to me in December:
I hope this Advent has begun for you with alertness for moving stars, singing angels, shepherds witnessing, kings on pilgrimage, and God’s immediate presence.
Abiding blessings,
Luther
Being with him in person, his entire countenance is an embodiment of that email closing. He’s different. Gentle, but discerning and determined. If Howard Thurman was a seminal figure in the long arc of Christian Mystics, Luther is another link in the chain. He invites us to join him in the unfolding path towards a world that looks more like the Kingdom.
Hope is Here! What does it mean to live a ‘big life’?
Luther recently published what he refers to as his ‘book-child’, a labor of love he has known he wanted to write since the 1990s. The book is a theological call to arms to live into God’s vision for us: a beloved community. His wisdom suggests:
If it causes God to grieve, I should grieve.
If it causes God to rejoice, I should rejoice.
If I deprive myself joy, and peace, and community, I’m depriving myself that for which I’m created.
If I don’t give myself to the pursuit of those things, I am withholding from the fullness that’s possible for me.
Both Luther and Howard Thurman call on us to live a ‘big life.’ The belief is that God needs people who are fully alive, vibrant, and engaged with their true selves to bring forth the best in the world. It underscores the idea that pursuing personal purpose is deeply interconnected with spiritual seeking.
Picking our spots for spiritual seeking
I asked Luther for recommendations on where to start if you want to get to know Howard Thurman (scroll down!), as well as guidance he would give a modern spiritual seeker.
Where do we start? How do we balance sampling from a breadth of inputs vs. going deep with a few? In-person experiences, direct service, contemplative retreats? Engaging with contemporary spiritual leaders vs. reading from historical figures like Thurman or even more ancient texts?
I’d summarize his advice as seeking our own unique place in a community of wondrous saints:
Where do you have a hunger of the heart? Follow that hunger.
Where do you feel the blessing of the pursuit? Listen to that blessing.
We’re all searching for meaning, both personally and socially - and you can’t pursue one without the other.
From the time we are babies, we know community before we are aware of our individual identities
Remember mystery - we have a tendency in the 21st-century technology era to try to ‘solve it’ rather than be in reverence of the mystery.
Questions for reflection as we seek the better way:
What spiritual "hunger of the heart" calls out to you most right now? What might it be inviting you towards?
Who are 1-2 spiritual teachers, historical or modern, who inspire your journey? What specifically draws you to their wisdom?
What’s a place in your life where you recognize mystery?
Where to start if you want to learn from Howard Thurman:
Luther answered with options. “It depends on your openness and hunger for a particular medium:
For a narrative, Thurman’s autobiography With Head and Heart
For a thematic understanding, Howard Thurman: Essential Writings (which Luther edited)
For critical engagement of Thurman’s background, The Mystic as Prophet (which Luther wrote)
For an overview of his theology, Disciplines of the Spirit
For Thurman’s favorite,The Inward Journey, a series of meditations that address the deepest needs and aspirations of the human spirit
Thanks again to Luther for joining me, and you can listen to the episode here: