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John Main, the late founder of the Christian Meditation movement, in Moment of Christ, wrote: “In Christ reality is one again.” Main refers to the Book of Ephesians, in the New Testament, which speaks of the dividing walls of the Temple being torn down, as an image of Jew, Gentile, male, and female having equal access to the Sacred.
Christ represents the energy of union, an energy that dissolves the artificial barriers that create categories, which deny access to the Sacred to certain classes of persons. Of course, these persons are always unlike “us.” Likewise, this Christ goes beyond dissolving barriers to access, the Spirit creates a connection to the Sacred that provides equal access to all persons. Indeed, access is part of the meaning of Grace.
In our diversity there is an identical access, for access relies on the Nature of the Sacred itself. Diversity is not problematic for the Sacred, for diversity arises from the potentiality of the Sacred. The simplicity of the Sacred manifests in diversity, for diversity is given birth from and by the inherent Plentitude of Spirit. Spirit is, therefore, diversifying.
As we draw nearer to Spirit and are transformed into the likeness of Christ, we act and think more in accord with the inclusive, universal Christ. Indeed, this tendency toward universalizing we see as a central motif in the life of Jesus Christ, as well as the human barriers engrained in human consciousness and institutions, political and religious, to limit the universalizing of Grace. This all-embracing Grace represents a challenge, for we find many in religion to remain in the patterns of exclusiveness. Many persons will not understand our inability to maintain old patterns of subtle, religiously supported prejudice.
As we are transformed into the likeness of Christ, from within, we begin to see persons through the mind of Christ. We see with a unifying vision and will find ourselves sensing union with persons that we once judged as outside Christ. For the Christian, he or she will sense a growing awareness of “Christ” and “Christian” as progressively becoming free of the boundaries defined by much of Christianity. This man or woman will find the particularity of Christ breaking forth into a universal, unifying Presence, providing access to all, and this access cannot be defined or controlled by an institution; therefore, the Church becomes something other than the church, and the degree to which a church or the church is an expression of the Church depends solely on the extent to which it participates in and with the Christ and the unifying vision of the Spirit of Life.
The Church and its theology and rites do not define access to the Spirit. At best, it can only provide a means of access. The unifying vision of Christ, and the energy of Christ that unites, the church is to serve. This is another way of saying: “The church is to serve the Christ, rather than make Christ fit within the structures, teachings, rites, and limitations of the church.”
Spiritual Exercises
1. What would be qualities of a person who is Christlike? A Christlike church?
2. Does the religious communion you serve tend to exclude any particular class of persons? Whom? How?
3. Is there evidence in the Bible that the communities that produced Scripture were struggling with the issues around exclusiveness and inclusiveness that we continue to struggle with, as well?
4. Explain how you think about the following two statements.
a. If the Bible speaks of excluding certain persons, then, we must exclude them, for the Bible is always right.
b. If the Bible speaks of excluding certain persons, then, that might only reflect where the writers and faith communities were at that stage of their learning the full Love of God?
5. If everyone is from God, God being the only eternal Reality from whom all derive, could anyone and anything be excluded from God and continue to exist? Explain.
6. As you have grown in Christ, have you found yourself to become more inclusive? Explain.
7. Have you ever felt excluded by a religious group based on your race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, economic class, religious belief …? Explain.
8. Do you perceive Christianity as generally exclusive or inclusive? Explain.
9. How can you be an example of inclusiveness in your own community and faith group?
Prayer
Spirit of Christ, give me a heart so in Love with everyone and everything that I cannot see anyone eternally lost to your Love. Most of all, so transform me into the Christ that I have only Love for all I meet and that others will sense this Love living in and through me, always. I love you, my Love. Amen.
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.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
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