Is that you, Christ?
The Motley Mystic Monday Moment
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Welcome to the Motley Mystic Monday Moment. Each week I'll be providing you with a tool you can use for your spiritual growth and giving you an invitation to think differently about your spirituality and how you're connecting with the Divine (God, the Universe, the Holy – however you may understand this overall life-giving force).
There are a lot of happy pastors out there today because Holy Week and Easter are over for another year. Don't get me wrong, some pastors thrive on the energy of this important time on the Christian calendar, and then there are pastors like me who dread this time of the year.
I come by my dread honestly, of course. Being raised in the Southern Baptist church, I was taught that Jesus literally resurrected, that his beaten and abused body was reanimated in some fantastical fashion and he walked out of the tomb to appear to his disciples and bodily ascend into heaven. It was too outlandish for me to believe even as a child, so I've always struggled with the idea, and therefore how to write sermons this time of year without offending too many of my listeners.
I recall many years ago, while I was entertaining a lot of doubts and alternate interpretations of Jesus' literal, bodily resurrection, I attended a religious conference specifically for LGBTQ Christians. In one session, the leader of the group that organized the event said, "You cannot claim to be a Christian if you do not believe in the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus."
The statement made my mind spin – as well as my stomach. Here was the leader of a group of people who had been told repeatedly by mainstream Christianity that they were not "true Christians" because of something innate within them – their sexual orientation or gender identity – outlining yet another thing that could eject them from the fold.
My mind reeled. To be fair to this leader, it was where he was at the time in his faith and he saw no contradiction in his statement. He was simply enforcing Christian orthodoxy, which was, of course, what those who excluded LGBTQ people from the Christian flock also did. We all have these kinds of blind spots. His admonition, though, was one of the final straws in my own orthodoxy, that had been hanging on by a thread anyway.
This year, I decided to go ahead and cut that cord. I gave myself permission to reframe Holy Week – to see it differently. Traditionally, it is a time of sorrow, a time of reflection on the sacrifice that Jesus made for humanity's sins by getting himself strung up on a cross as a way to prove that he was the Messiah that was predicted to come and be the sacrificial lamb to redeem the sins of the world.
This was the burden I have been carrying for all these years of Holy Weeks and Easters past, and this year, I decided to put it down and tell the truth – that's not what Holy Week and Easter are about. Easter, as A Course in Miracles says in Chapter 20, is a time of joy, not a time of mourning. It "is not the celebration of the cost of sin, but of its end," because in Reality – that realm of God where we all truly exist – there is no such thing as sin. We are made of light, joy and peace and there is only love and innocence at our core.
If this is true, resurrection, then, is not about some guy reanimating in his dead flesh and getting up and walking around. Resurrection is about how all of us must die to the ego's idea of this world as sick, sinful and sacrificial and arising into a new life as the light, joy and peace that we truly are. Resurrection literally means that the Christ remains a live and well in bodily form right here and right now – because Christ still lives in, and through, us.
And if that's true, then that means that the Christ is alive and well and walking around in the form of everyone else as well. That guy who cut you off in traffic? Christ. That lady who held the door for you at the bank? Christ. That guy who let you cut in front of him in the grocery store because you had one item and he's stocking up for the apocalypse? Yep, that was Christ.
St. Patrick's breastplate is one of my favorite prayers:
"Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me."
This, friends, is what resurrection is about – recognizing the Christ that inhabits every single person you meet this day – including the Christ that stares back at you from the mirror.
Exercise this week: Seeing Christ in the Walmart
Here's a fun way to practice seeing Christ everywhere you go: Take a trip to Walmart. I've done this and it's such a fabulous exercise. Years ago, I hated going to Wally World because of, y'know, the people. There are the aisle lingerers who are agonizing over a product when you just want to grab and go, there are the socializers blocking the aisles, the stockers blocking the aisles, the slowpokes who have to take in every shelf, while blocking the aisle. There are the dawdlers, the crying children, the oddly dressed and those who actually defy description at all!
I saw every single one of them as an obstacle. They were in MY way, because my time and mission were far more important than theirs.
Then, one day, I decided to go into Walmart and really see everyone I passed by – to see the Christ before me, the Christ behind me and those on my right and to my left, even if they were blocking up the aisle.
What a different experience I had! I came out of that store in love with everyone I saw. Instead of seeing obstacles, I saw real, live human beings – living their own amazing lives with kids, worries, frustrations, desires and joys of their own. I let most of them in line ahead of me, just so I could keep watching these amazing beings move about in time and space.
I experienced a miracle – which the Course says is just a change in perception. Instead of perceiving people as irritants that needed to move out of my way – I saw their divinity. I saw light shine from every single face I encountered. Even if they were rude or saw me as an obstacle, I saw them as the light of the world.
Can I do this every time I'm shopping? No. I forget sometimes that Christ is all around me, but more often than not, I still remember to see them as the risen Christ – even if they can't see themselves that way.
I invite you to try that this week. Go to the store and be determined to see Christ before you, behind you, to your right and your left. Smile at everyone, even if they don't smile back or if they act like you're nuts. Make an effort to see the Christ walking around in all of its "distressing disguises" as Mother Teresa once said.
When you can begin to see even just a glimmer of divinity within those you pass by every day – then you'll understand that resurrection is real, and it's something everyone can do every day by emerging from our egoic tomb of fear and self-absorption long enough to recognize the Christ everywhere.
Let me know if you try this exercise this week and how it went for you.
Drumroll please …
Now, for the big news! Those who are paying subscribers to the Motley Mystic will soon be getting an exclusive treat — a first look at the book I'm writing. I have a few chapters in the works for a book tentatively entitled "The Great Wide Open." It's a primer on how to stay open in the world and not close our hearts to anyone or any experience that the world throws at us.
For those of you signed up for the free version of the newsletter, you'll still get all my great regular content, and maybe a teaser or two on the book, but if you want to read this while it's being written and give me your feedback, suggestions and ideas, that would great! I want you to help me make this the best book ever!
Music for the Journey
Less Than Whole by Eric Paslay
About the Motley Mystic:
The Motley Mystic is an online community for people who have realized that the truth speaks with many voices. There is no one religion, philosophy, institution or dogma that captures the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. No one needs to swear allegiance to one line of thought or belief to discern Truth, because Love is the only thing that’s real. That’s what we explore at the Motley Mystic - all the tools and strategies we need to remove our barriers to Love and live fully as our true, Divine Self.
Candace Chellew is the founder of Motley Mystic as well Jubilee! Circle, an interfaith spiritual community in Columbia, S.C. She is also the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians published in 2008 by Jossey-Bass. She is also a musician and avid beer drinker.