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I held a tree
only to find it was the doorposts
to the Gate of Heaven.
I kissed the rays of the Sun
only to find it was the diadem
adorning your head, O Christ.
I knew the true meaning of
Baptism as sacrament, under
the rain falling from your sky.
I knew the true meaning of
Eucharist as sacrament, at
table with a friend.
Is not the Temple
the sign of Creation?
Is not the Christ
the image of you and me?
Why friend do you look elsewhere?
The ground is covered with Jacob ladders,
and angels ascend and descend
everywhere.
Stop your complaining:
Join them!
-Brian K. Wilcox
Within Philippians 1.1, St. Paul addresses the Christians at Corinth as follows: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi… (ESV).
Here we have the mystery of living the incarnational life. Within this is paradox: remember, Truth always is paradoxical, for it integrates apparent opposites. Sadly, the Church is riddled with dualistic thinking, including such preachers and theologians, totally missing the deep unitive teachings of the Gospel and books like Ephesians and Colossians, and common designations like “in Christ” and “in Christ Jesus” and the “Body of Christ.”
We are mystical beings, “in Christ Jesus,” and we are earthy beings, “at Philippi.” Out of this dialectic we live and emerge as more whole beings. We have to learn to honor in others and ourselves this sometimes-what-appears contradictory fact. Indeed, sometimes we ourselves feel bathed in heaven; at other times we feel tied down to earth. This arises from being a divine-human, or human-divine, creature.
Our living in our Philippis is set within the context of being “in Christ Jesus.” We cannot live the other way; that is, letting our being in our Philippis precede in thought and action our being “in Christ Jesus.”
However, these geographies, or environments, are not contradictory. When we are living in Christ, honoring our divinity, we find nature and the world a beautiful and glorious place to live, a geography that helps, not hinders, our being more whole persons.
St. John 3.13 reads, “No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there” (CEV). In the Word there is no conflict or contradiction between “gone up” and “came down.” Indeed, St. Paul referring to “Christ Jesus,” utilizes a term comporting with the Word as mystically transcending and, also, the name “Jesus” pointing to earthy immanence. Christ Jesus is unitive geography for the Christian.
To be “in Christ Jesus” is to be in all of the Word. We enter into the inherent agreement between “going up” and “going down.” In Christ Consciousness, there is no longer “here” and “there,” rather, to be “here” is to be “there,” and to be “there” is to be “here.” And, to “go up” is to “go down,” and vice versa.
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This means that we can enter, as a state of awareness, the enjoyment of the “after life” now, “heaven” now. To do so, we enter more wholly into “this life” and “the world.” To accept and love graciously the common world and its mundane affairs is as much a part of the grace of the Christian life as is a longing for “heaven.” Indeed, who would dare say that the person who does not love this world could love the Creator of this world? And, if one cannot enjoy God now, who would dare assume that person will enjoy God anywhere else? This is to say, one must honor both “Philippi” and “in Christ Jesus,” or she honors neither one.
If we honored this teaching, it would save us from much of the silliness that goes on under the name of Christ. Sadly, many persons seem to have been taught little about how to live more wholly in both their everyday lives and such as being fully, at the same time, in Christ Jesus. This is much the fault of dualistic preachers and theologians who have never grown into a contemplative awareness and its Christ Consciousness. They themselves have forgotten or never known that the early Church did not differentiate between mysticism and dogma. To this extent, claiming to be orthodox, as being true to the early Church, they are being heretical, denying the unitive teaching of the early Church.
And, if we do not adopt this love of the wholeness of “Philippi” and “in Christ Jesus,” we will always be against the world, as evidenced in fundamentalism. Just observe the against-the-world attitude and behavior in fundamentalist Christianity. Indeed, a Christianity that does not enjoy being in the world and find it a godly place is a Christianity not worthy of the designation “in Christ Jesus.”
How ironic! To enter the world more deeply and rightly, is to enter more deeply and rightly Christ Jesus. To enter Christ Jesus more deeply and rightly, is to enter the world more deeply and rightly. The Christian is to be the most common person, while she is, also, to be the most heavenly person. And, those most deeply in touch with the Christ evidence an inexplicable union within themselves unknown to most persons.
This is not esoteric or mystical Christianity I am teaching; this is Christainity I am teaching.
Questions
Where are your Phillipis? What do you do to unify in yourself “Philippi” and “in Christ Jesus?” How might you be a more whole being, living more fully in the “here” and “there” as a single Truth?
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
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