The Life of Christ as Mystical Rhythm

 7 Easter Cycle  A      May 28, 2017
Acts 1:6-14        Ps. 68  
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11   John 17:1-11       

Lectionary Link

What happened in  the second and third generation of Christians?  Probably the same thing that happens in any social movement that gains success.  People start to worry about keeping the past events of the origin of the movement alive and well.  Will our children know about Jesus?  Will our children know about Peter and Paul?  Will our children know why the Christian church happened?  The early followers of Jesus adopted a lifestyle and that lifestyle became adapted to the lives of people living in the Roman Empire.

How does one guarantee that the lifestyle of Jesus gets preserved?  Cultural practices and institutions arise to preserve.  The writings of the New Testament are evidence of the church becoming an institution.  Written words last longer than oral tradition; they are preserved in a visible form.  Oral traditions are lost as people die.  Oral traditions are not very precise because stories get slightly changed as they are told in new places and new situations.  But when something is written down, it has a different kind of permanency.  Successful early churches became institutions.  Institutions have programs to teach their mission.  The mission of the church was to transform lives through mystical encounter with the Risen Christ.  The Gospels were writings to teach the mysticism of the rhythm of the life of Jesus Christ.

St. Paul did not see Jesus but he had a mystical experience of Christ and in his experience he believed that he attained an identity with Jesus Christ.  He believed that the life of Christ had been born within him, he believed that he shared in the ministry of Christ, he believed that he was crucified with Christ, he believed that he was raised with Christ, he believed that he had ascended with Christ and was made to sit in heavenly places.  This was the mystical poetry of the language of identity with Christ which is found in the writings of St. Paul.

After the writings of St. Paul about his mystical experience with the Risen Christ, the successful Christian churches, wrote the Gospels.  The Gospels were more permanent than oral tradition in preserving a narrative of the life of Jesus.  But the narrative of the life of Jesus also was presented as a way of teaching the mystical identity with Jesus Christ.  The Gospels are mystical manuals for getting into rhythms with the kinds of activity of Christ in our lives.

Jesus is born in Bethlehem.  Christ is born in us.  Jesus was baptized and he was declared God's beloved son.  We are baptized as celebration of our being children of God.  Jesus ministered and taught.  St. Paul said that he had the "mind of Christ" and so he ministered and taught.  We minister and teach because we believe that we share in the ministry of Christ.  Jesus died on the cross.  Paul said that he was crucified with Christ.  The power of the death of Christ is visualized as spiritual practice of dying to what is unworthy in us.  Jesus rose from the dead and appeared in various ways to his followers.  Jesus still becomes apparent to us,  inside of us and outside of us because we have an awareness of his presence to us.  Jesus Ascended. The appearances of Risen Christ diminished to one final appearance; the appearance of him ascending and leaving the visible world.  What does Jesus do in his ascended and invisible life?  He prays for us.  He intercedes for the life of the world. St. Paul believed that he had been raised and was seated in heavenly places with Christ.  The Ascension of Christ, means that Christ has returned to the invisible life and his original place of glory.  The early Christians believed that the church was successful because Christ had been raised and returned to a place of glory.

Today, we have a long prayer of Jesus which was an oracle event in the community which wrote the Gospel of John.  The early church believed that Jesus was a person of prayer.  They also believed that the church entered into the ministry of the prayer of Jesus because the presence of Christ is in us praying for the life situations that we find ourselves in.

How does the intercession of the invisible Christ work?  I think the intercession of Christ is a beacon of love which is inviting and luring us to be loving and kind.  In a world where God permits so much freedom, what can God do in the midst of the freedom that is allowed in our world?

A loving God, can send out beacons of love to all to persuade us that good is better than evil.

If a loving God will not force this world to be good, what can a loving God do?  A loving God uses persuasion to invite us to use our freedom to be good.  What is an expression of divine persuasion?

Prayer is the highest form of divine persuasion.  In prayer we get involved with the lure of God coaxing the people of this world to be kind and loving.

You and I today are called to get into the rhythm of the life of Jesus.  Christ is born in us.  Christ ministers and teaches in and through us.  We have been crucified with Christ in having been given power to die to what is unworthy in our lives.  We have been risen with Christ to realize the life of the eternal Spirit with us.  We have ascended with Christ because we have been asked to pray that God's will to be done on earth as it is done in the parallel realm of heaven.

What the ascension of Christ means for you and me is the entry into the life of prayer.  We are raised to be in heavenly places with Christ and we are joined with Christ to persuade this world to choose love and kindness.

Today, you and are called to the life of prayer.  Why?  We want our minds and our words to be expressive of desiring the very best for our world.  We in our prayer honor the profound freedom that is in this world. In our prayers we are teaching ourselves to accept ourselves as children of God since Jesus asked that we might be one with the Father.  With prayer we actually practice a living relationship with God.  With prayer, we enter into God loving desire to coax everyone living under the conditions of freedom, to make the choice of goodness, kindness, love and justice.

Let us honor the ascension of Christ today, by entering into the ministry of prayer which we share with Christ.  Amen.