Richard Rohr's "Heaven and Earth Are One" Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Thursday, 27 October 2016 The Risen Christ is beyond space; he is beyond time.

Richard Rohr's "Heaven and Earth Are One" Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Thursday, 27 October 2016 The Risen Christ is beyond space; he is beyond time.

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

Image description: Whirlpool Galaxy: The crossed pattern within the nucleus of M51 indicating two dust rings around
the black hole at the center of the nebula. Credit: NASA/ESA
"The Cosmic Christ: Week 1"
"Heaven and Earth Are One"
Thursday, October 27, 2016

After the microcosmic moment of Jesus, human and divine in time, the hourglass diagram begins expanding again.
Jesus was not born as the Christ. A transfiguration, a morphing, a realization had to take place, even in Jesus, before he became the Anointed One in which everything else cohered and held together (see Colossians, Ephesians, and the prologue to John’s Gospel). The resurrected Jesus is the Christ. The Risen Christ is Jesus but also bigger and beyond Jesus’ individual form and lifetime.
My systematics professor used to say that if the Resurrection had been filmed, it probably would not have shown a man stepping out of the tomb holding a flag, as most Christian art illustrates. The camera probably would have recorded a huge flash of light. The Risen Christ is Jesus released from all space/time restrictions. He is beyond space; he is beyond time. He includes all of the spiritual and the physical world, reconciled within himself.
Next on our diagram of the Cosmic Christ is the Ascension. In the story of Christ’s ascension as told in Acts (1:9-11), angels appear next to the disciples as they gaze after the rising figure. The angels ask, “Why are you standing here staring up into heaven?” Most of Christianity has been doing just that, straining to find the historical Jesus “up there.” Where did he go? We’ve been obsessed with the question because we think the universe is divided into separate levels—heaven and earth. But it is one universe and all within it is transmuted and transformed by the glory of God. The whole point of the Incarnation and Risen Body is that the Christ is here—and always was! But now we have a story that allows us to imagine it just might be true.
Jesus didn’t go anywhere. He became the universal omnipresent Body of Christ. That’s why the final book of the Bible promises us a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 21:1), not an escape from earth. We focused on “going” to heaven instead of living on earth as Jesus did—which makes heaven and earth one. It is heaven all the way to heaven. What you choose now is exactly what you choose to be forever. God will not disappoint you.
Gateway to Silence: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology, & Consciousness: A Reframing of How We See (CAC: 2010), MP3 download.-------

“Evolutionary Thinking”

a new issue of Oneing, CAC’s spiritual, literary journal

“Foundational hope demands a foundational belief in a world that is still and always unfolding.”[Richard Rohr]
Discover the many ways in which we can consciously contribute to the evolutionary process, both at the universal and personal levels. The story has not yet ended. Have hope!
Featuring Michael Dowd, Tasha Wahl, Micky Scottbey Jones, Mike Morrell, Sally Severino, and others.
This limited edition publication is now available at store.cac.org.

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Center for Action and Contemplation
Center for Action and Contemplation
1823 Five Points Road South West (physical)
PO Box 12464 (mailing)
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87195, United States
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