Oneing

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Before conversion, we tend to think God is out there. After transformation, God is not out there, and we don’t look at reality. We’re in the middle of it now; we’re a part of it. This whole thing is what I call the mystery of participation. Paul is obsessed with the idea that we’re all participating in something bigger than ourselves. “In Christ” is his code phrase for this new participatory life. In fact, he uses the phrase “in Christ” 164 times to describe this organic unity and participation in Christ. “I live no longer, not I; but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). “In Christ” is his code phrase for this new participatory life.

 

It’s a completely different experience of life. I’m not writing the story by myself. I’m a character inside of a story that is being written in cooperation with God and the rest of humanity.

          Richard Rohr

___________________________

 

It is shocking really

leaving us breathless

inspired

in Spirited

 

what audacity

to think that the Sacred is not only in us

but that we are in,

participate in the Sacred

 

God in us

Christ in us

Spirit in us

 

That we can understand, a little

But “I am in God”?

 

That changes everything

Because it is no longer just

Jesus and me

 

It is Jesus and I

and every other creature on this planet

 

We are bound together

as brothers and sisters because God is in us

Namaste

The sacred in me greets the sacred in you

The Christ in me greets the Christ in you

 

But if we are all part of the same whole

The same power and reality that is beyond comprehension

 

That bond is even more profound

Because then

Whenever we hurt, neglect, or oppress

Another human creature (at the very least)

 

We do damage not just to them

But to God

And to ourselves

 

Jesus said

Whatever you do to another

Whenever you use your power ON another

To control, or neglect

You do it to me

 

Whenever you use your power FOR another

To help, comfort, and heal

You do it to me

 

But do we understand that when we do damage to another

We do damage to ourselves

Do we get that our “wins” are also “losses”

Unless everyone wins?

 

When an immigrant is brutally grabbed, we are all hurt

When a person demeans and ridicules another, we are all diminished

When we hate another, that hate seeps into our souls?

We create pain for that reality that created and sustains

Everything

 

Yes, Christ is in me

But I am in Christ/God

I am you, and you are me (and we are all together)

We are

And that changes everything