Tag Archives: Christ
Christ Is Everywhere
Introduction to Christian Mysticism Christ Is Everywhere Tuesday, July 16, 2019 The twentieth-century English mystic Caryll Houselander (1901–1954) describes how an ordinary underground train journey in London transformed into a vision that changed her life. I share Houselander’s description of this startling experience because it poignantly demonstrates what I call the Christ Mystery, the indwelling… Continue Reading Christ Is Everywhere
Experiential Knowing
Introduction to Christian Mysticism Experiential Knowing Monday, July 15, 2019 When I use the word “mystical” I am referring to experiential knowing instead of just intellectual, textbook, or dogmatic knowing. A mystic sees things in their wholeness, connection, and union, not only their particularity. Mystics get a whole gestalt in one picture, beyond the sequential… Continue Reading Experiential Knowing
Our Deepest Desire
Meeting Christ Within Us Our Deepest Desire Thursday, May 30, 2019 Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire. —Psalm 37:4 One of my favorite mystics is the English anchorite Julian of Norwich (1342–1416). After a serious illness, during which she experienced “shewings” or revelations of Jesus’ love, she wrote… Continue Reading Our Deepest Desire
God Speaks
Meeting Christ Within Us God Speaks Monday, May 27, 2019 In a time when everything was being swept away, when “the whole world is becoming a giant concentration camp,” [Etty Hillesum] felt one must hold fast to what endures—the encounter with God at the depths of one’s own soul and in other people. —Robert Ellsberg… Continue Reading God Speaks
God With Us
Meeting Christ Within Us God With Us Sunday, May 26, 2019 If God’s Spirit has truly joined our spirit, then we have every reason to trust the deepest movements of our natures. This trust becomes a key for all spirituality. The goal of Christian spirituality is to recognize and respond to the continual interior movements… Continue Reading God With Us
Living in the Spirit
Indwelling Spirit Living in the Spirit Friday, May 24, 2019 In very real ways, soul, consciousness, love, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same. Each of these point to something that is larger than the individual, shared with God, ubiquitous, and even eternal—and then revealed through us! Holiness does not mean people are… Continue Reading Living in the Spirit
The Mystical Body of Christ
Heaven Now The Mystical Body of Christ Friday, May 3, 2019 A cosmic notion of Christ takes mysticism beyond the mere individual level to the transpersonal, social, and collective levels. Cynthia Bourgeault, another of our core faculty members and an Episcopal priest, explores Jesus’ resurrection from a universal, mystical perspective: What Jesus so profoundly demonstrates… Continue Reading The Mystical Body of Christ
Death Transformed
Jesus’ Resurrection Death Transformed Friday, April 26, 2019 Christianity—as well as Buddhism, other religions, and natural systems—suggests that the pattern of transformation, the pattern that connects, the life that Reality offers us is not death avoided, but death transformed. In other words, the only trustworthy pattern of spiritual transformation is death and resurrection. Christians learn… Continue Reading Death Transformed
From Darkness to Light
Jesus’ Resurrection From Darkness to Light Thursday, April 25, 2019 Anything exposed by the light will be illuminated and anything illuminated turns into light. That is why it is said: Wake up, sleeper, Rise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you. —Ephesians 5:13-14 (Jerusalem Bible) At the resurrection, Jesus was revealed as the… Continue Reading From Darkness to Light
Raised from the Dead
Jesus’ Resurrection Raised from the Dead Wednesday, April 24, 2019 Nothing is the same forever, says modern science. Ninety-eight percent of our bodies’ atoms are replaced every year. Geologists, with good evidence over millennia, can prove that no landscape is permanent. Water, fog, steam, and ice are all the same thing but at different stages… Continue Reading Raised from the Dead
