Many maps have survived from medieval Europe where all uncharted lands and waters were marked with illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures, representing potential danger. These were the “no go” zones. One such illustration, from the Hunt-Lenox Globe (c. 1504 AD), has the Latin phrase “hic sunt dracones,” translated as “Here Be Dragons.” Another, the T-O Psalter world map (c. 1250 AD) has dragons, as symbols of sin, in a lower "frame" below the world, balancing Jesus and angels on the top.
Unfortunately, to this day, our god-image is similarly limited. It includes only the “good” (bright, light, white, comfortable, well-circumscribed) aspects in our life’s map. Consequently, everything in our experience that does not fit neatly within this narrow definition of “god,” is relegated to the realm of the devil, satan, demons, or sin. And when our god becomes so small, so unidimensional, we also tend to experience ourselves and our life journeys as small, limited and lackluster.
What if we could create a safe container, in community, so we could lean into the discomfort of life experiences that we have called, until now, “not of god?” What if we dared peer at the dragons? Maybe even dip a toe in the uncharted waters? And what if in doing so, we brushed across a crack in our god-image “where the light gets in?” In this Sacred Conversation, we will do just that - using an image that dials our discomfort up to a level 3 or 4, not 10, so we could safely stretch our limits, just a little. This may be the beginning of a lifelong practice where we intentionally develop a more expansive and nuanced map of what is holy ground, so we are able to take up our rightful space in the world.