Shirin McArthur
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”
—John 14: 12
Dear Siblings in Christ,
Christ is, and always has been, part of the eternal Trinity. The human Jesus and the eternal Christ were in unity in that one body during Jesus’ time on earth.
The really good news is that we all are part of the Christ in that way. As Richard Rohr has written, “He is indeed ‘the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,’ as Hebrews puts it (12:2), modeling the human journey rather perfectly.”[1]
Does that seem outlandish, impossible?
We are invited to recognize that the divine dwells in every thing: every flower that blooms so beautifully, every human we meet, every animal we love, and even those animals we find more pesky than perfect. The divine also dwells in you and in me. Dare we believe it—and live accordingly?
The more I live with this idea and take it to prayer, the more this audacious claim truly feels right.
I think about every piece of art I’ve ever created. A part of me lives on in it. A part of me remains embedded in everything I’ve written, including a dozen years’ worth of weekly blog posts. Why would it not be the same for our Creator?
Richard Rohr also states, “God loves things by becoming them.”[2] This means it’s an ongoing process. We are infused with God from the very moment of our creation. We are connected with both creator and creation through an ongoing love, made tangible through the gift of the Holy Spirit. God becomes us as we become God.
When we believe this, it’s impossible to feel alone or abandoned in our many crucifixions and deaths, large and small. Christ is with us in each of them.
It’s also impossible to stay dead, because in Christ we all rise. Every morning is a resurrection, and every challenge is an opportunity.
Easter never ends.
Peace,
—Shirin
A version of this message first appeared on my blog on April 28, 2019.
[1] Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (New York: Convergent, 2019), 27.
[2] Rohr, The Universal Christ, 113.