Enter the Mystery
To Follow Jesus Christ and Pass from this World…by Yogi Christopher
The main point of Christianity is the personhood of Jesus Christ, not His personage, nor personality. It is this personhood that makes His name holy. It is what make His pronouns holy, as well. Nonetheless, the gender of Christ is entirely coincidental. His essence is universal, because His essence is Godʼs Holy Spirit. If Jesus happened to be a woman, so would we praise Her name. This apportionment of gender only has any meaning in a very limited historical context. In Eternity, God has no fixed identity.
Jesus Christʼs personage made Him the Child of God and His personality the Child of Mary. However, it was the personhood of Christ that allowed Him to fulfill His destiny, giving His most holy life to save our own. It was no sacrifice though. That is what His personhood and Its union with the Kingdom and Spirit of God ensures. That is also the context of our own salvation. God as revealed in Jesus Christ is a mystery and yet He clearly walks among His flock as the Shepherd of Souls.
Where is He taking us like sheep to the slaughter? Like Abraham, God commands us to stay our hand and trust in His mercy. This first act of mercy inspired several millennia of contemplation and faith by countless human beings that continues to this day. We may criticize all we want, but that will never change where we have come from. And who can know for anyone else from whence theyʼve truly come, except the very God who calls to them from the depths of their own hearts?
Do we dare trust such a God? Do we really have any other choice? For, what appears so clearly to one person seldom appears so clearly to any other. This is what makes faith a necessary part of our salvation. Faith is where our reason meets heartʼs longing and falls away, to reveal a Truth that is at once undeniably certain and impossible to understand at the same time. This moment of Truth happens within the experience of Eternity and Its limitless qualities.
These limitless qualities are always present, even in our everyday experiences of life. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the purest expression of Godʼs unconditional love. This unconditional love is the mystery of God revealing Itself as the personhood of Jesus Christ. In our faith in Jesus Christ we find an experience of the Holy Spirit that leads us directly to the Truth as only God knows It. This is the Eternal Life of the Spirit, the promise at the heart of Christianity.
The Mystery of Christ
The mystery of the innermost Christ is holy, ineffable and sublime. It is by the grace of God that all beings have the opportunity to live in harmony. Nevertheless, selfishness destroys our faith in Godʼs will. A person can not have faith in something they think they already know. It is only by not knowing that we can begin to open our hearts to the power and glory of Godʼs mystery.
God does not discriminate. Godʼs judgement is always happening in every moment. We are judged not by what we know or believe, but by our trust in the unconditional love and goodness of our own innermost heart. That is imago Christi, the image of Christ. If we allow our hearts to open, it is none other than Christʼs love that shines forth. It's ok to give up ownership of our love, letting it be shared equally by all. When that happens, you will recognize yourself as the child of a truly compassionate and just God.
Short Sermon on Forgiveness and Unconditional Love
The true message of Christ is that only through forgiveness and unconditional love can relative peace and prosperity for all be achieved. Now, forgiveness does not mean mindlessness, nor is unconditional love letting bullies have their way.
Forgiveness is always a greater, more inclusive perspective of the situation. Unconditional love is the value we give our relationships to ourselves and each other. In Christʼs suffering is our own. In Christʼs suffering was the suffering of all human beings. This is the truth of Godʼs forgiveness. It is a relationship between ourselves and each other. It is not dogma or theory. It is what happens when we forgive and move towards loving one another more.
There is a great tenderness and warmth that everyday blame and discord foolishly denies. Forgiveness releases us from the fetters of blame and allows us the freedom of living with an open heart and clear conscience. When judgement dissolves, unconditional love shines.
Namo Jesu Christe
Bound to the Cross
by Yogi Christopher
Bound to the cross
and He only cried out once,
“My God,
why have you forsaken me?”
God was quiet that day,
but the answer is forgiveness.
If we are not forsaken,
there is no split to mend
and forgiveness is impossible.
But God did give
His only begotten Son to be bound to the cross as though forsaken, only to be forgiven.
All sins can be forgiven, when we reach out
with an open heart
and a willingness
to atone.
Those without love who struggle to forgive will only suffer
that much more.
So, in your darkest hours be like Christ
and ask God,
“My God,
why have you forsaken me?” And be forgiven.