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Scripture~Genesis 2.7 (NLT)
Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
Wisdom Story
The disciple approached the Teacher. "Teacher," he said, "how shall I enjoy intimacy with the Divine? My Beloved seems to evade my grasp." Replied the Teacher.
If the Moon did not give its body nightly
To the Sun's offer of its bright caress
How would the Moon's body glow with the
Intimacy of the Light?
How shall you
Enjoy the penetration of Love
If you keep your mouth closed to the
Passionate Kiss of the Christ?
*Brian K. Wilcox
Comments
Intimatic Christology is a deeply~intimate relationship of communion with Christ-in-Love. This is experience of shared-interpenetration with the Word; a mutual-union in Love, wherein each identity remains in a oneness of shared Be-ing.
Much Christian faith is a religion of separation. God is, at times, subject acting upon us objects. At other times, we are subjects acting upon God as object. We reduce Be-ing of God, Intimacy Herself, Himself, Itself, to the grammar of common human experience. We reduce the Word to our words.
This is subject-object dualism, and is a lower level experience to prepare us for the capacity to enjoy union with Pure Love as our usual and daily life in and with the Triune Mystery.
We experience this Intimacy based on the Indwelling aspect of the Word. So, to clarify, I share three aspects of the Christ: Transcendent Christ, Universal Christ, Indwelling Christ.
1) Transcendent Christ.
This is the Christ transcending all. This Christ aspect is within and one with the Father and Holy Spirit, in timeless intimacy, in blissful communion, in loving union. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the One.
2) Universal Christ.
Christ, remaining in intimacy within the One, pervades the Universe. Christ works to fulfill the Will of the Trinity to transform, or spiritualize, Nature to enter fully the intimacy-wholeness enjoyed by the Transcendent Christ within the Holy Trinity. This can, also, be termed the Cosmic Christ.
3) Indwelling Christ.
Christ lives within each person, though we to varying degrees are conscious or not of the Presence. We are being led through a transformation into the intimacy shared within the Holy Trinity.
An Intimatic spirituality is based on this entering into the Mystery of Christ, and this Mystery, while manifesting in these three aspects, is One Mystery.
To know God in Christ, in personal experience, is to evolve in fullness of intercourse with Christ as the Presence beyond all, within all, and within the self~in~community.
Suggested Reflection
1) How does the passage about God breathing into Adam mirror the process of contemplative, intimatic experience of the Christ?
2) What evidences do you see in your life that you are growing in intimacy with Christ?
3) As you grow closer to God, what changes does this lead to in the way you pray, worship, and live daily? The kind of persons you wish to associate with? The activities you engage in?
4) How does intimacy with Christ affect your capacity for intimacy with other persons and community? With yourself?
Rejoice!
See next page for details on OneLife Ministries, Brian's book An Ache for Union, and material pertaining to sources used in the writing.
Feel free to submit a query. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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