I am not my father. We are separate individuals, yet you can see the image of Henry Joseph Sandigo and his qualities within me. The same goes for God the Father and his creation. While the gospels call for a personal and radical inner/outer transformation, God is not reserved for the individual alone. An essential part of loving God is loving others, regardless if they are followers of our rabbi. Ideally, our life is committed to silence and serving others.
A god whose salvation is reserved for those in “members only” jackets, the lucky few who attend a specific church, in a specific country, is not befitting of the distinction of a capital g. That god is too small and tends to hate the people we hate. This does not sound like the God who said to call him I AM. (YHWH is a phrase that is breathed rather than spoken.) The God who so loved the world he entered into its history and showed his people the Way, the truth, and the life.
Adoni’s name is written on our hearts and is found in the very cadence of our breath! This puts Paul’s words into perspective:
We take our lead from Christ who is the source of everything we do. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we may grow robust in love!
Everything that lives must breathe. If each of us calls out to YHWH, unconsciously or consciously, how can we ever attempt to claim exclusivity or monopoly on God and his Word? The Holy Spirit dances where he pleases. I cannot will that he tango with one person and not another because I don’t like their politics or haircut. All of creation speaks of the Creator. Not just you or me. Christ is within us, yes, but by him, all things hold together. He was present ‘in the beginning’ and after the restoration of humanity, because of Yeshua’s work, we can enter into a relationship with God the Father. This is a love that pushes forward in a continuous outpour. Out of our hearts, rivers of living water begin to flow. The Source of this grace is not one to siphon for our private reserve. By going out of ourselves we enter into the fullness of life. Yeshua leads us to shalom aka wholeness.
By his death and resurrection, Christ destroys the separation that existed since the fall between paradise and the universe. Today you shall be with me in Paradise, says Christ to the good thief (Lk 23:43)—giving to the human race access to the forbidden garden, coming back himself on earth after his resurrection, and showing that in himself paradise and the universe are henceforth one. By his ascension, he unites heaven and earth through the exaltation of the human body, co-natural and consubstantial with ours, which he had assumed. By going beyond the angelic orders with his human soul and body, he restores the unity between the worlds of sense and of mind and establishes the harmony of the whole creation. Finally, as man, he accomplishes in all truth the true human destiny that he himself had predetermined as God, and from which man had turned: he unites man to God.
– St. Maximus the Confessor
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