Opening Meditation
18 Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”
(Matt 28:17–20, Common English Bible)
(https://www.spiritualtravels.info/spiritual-sites-around-the-world/north-america/religious-landmarks-in-independence-missouri/community-of-christ-landmarks-in-independence-missouri/)
Reflection 14JUN24
I am currently studying Of Water and Spirit at this time, which is the Community of Christ's study guide
I am trying am resolved to building a solid foundation as a disciple because I considering studying for to enter the priesthood, and I want to have all the tools at my disposal to help people with whatever their spiritual needs may be. I can only earn those tools by being brilliant on the basics of discipleship.
Currently, I am struggling with the trinity concept, even within the context of an inclusive Latter Day Restoration tradition that is non-creedal.
I have troubles with the foundation of this structure as a Greco-Roman framework that I am not sure the historical Jesus would have himself shared.
But I will be humble and continue to study the issue from all angles, and will concede that triadic frameworks always seem to carry an inherent power to them.
I simply struggle with this perspective and also seeing how the Jewish and Islamic conceptions of deity could be valid too. I am working on embracing the paradox, and working on realizing that not all contradictions can be harmonized, but all the same, I take contradictions as a personal challenge to make sense of them.
Where I first learned of God
I first learned about God from my catholic upbringing. My experience of this God was a cold rule-enforcer. At least, this is what the God of the Catholic church seemed to me. Don't get me wrong, as I get older, I can appreciate its ritual and aesthetics. It's the authoritarianism I can't accept. To me, it would seem the Wild Christ wasn't bound by any institution.
What shaped my thinking about God?
My authoritarian upbringing in the military system. American capitalism-fueled Evangelical notions of what Christian Theology seems to be in the popular American imagination. My dad was a convert to Catholicism for my mom, but I wouldn't be surprised if his interpretation was colored by the culture surrounding southern evangelical Christianity.
How I describe God's love.
Infinite.
Warm, like a gentle fire, ever aflame in my heart...
...keeping the blaze of hope alive eternally.
For God is Love. And Love be the Law of the Universe.
Evaluating Identity and Progress on the Journey Path
It's important for me to constantly evaluate my identity, mission, message, and beliefs in my Christian faith. There will always be change at every age and stage of life.
It's honestly hard to tell where *exactly* I am in this journey.
Everyday kind of always permanently feels like the beginning of the journey, even though I objectively know that this isn't the case. I just never seem to feel like I know enough.
Realistically, by any objective measure, I probably register as a committed disciple to most given my obsessive tendencies, and yet I feel fail short of this title by my own (admittedly) impossible standards.
But I supposed that's kind of what being a Latter Day Saint in this particular Restoration tradition, Community of Christ, is all about. Striving for the perfection of Christ.
In the Brighamite Latter Day Saint tradition, Exaltation means something quite specific in its theology. But a word isn't beholden to any particular definition. No word ever is. And there are other meanings by which this concept becomes relevant to the Community of Christ. How?
To strive for the perfection of Christ is an everyday task. It's about you at your most harmonious state. The point of stillness in the tension between you and the universe.
Exaltation thus becomes a call to action towards the perfection of Christ's Divine Name within us.
Exit Meditation
21 a. Baptism is to be administered in the following manner unto all those who repent: b. The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented him or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: c. Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. d. Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
(Community of Christ Doctrines & Covenants 17:21)
Meditative Reflection
A select group of people come to this tradition as a refugee from the Utah church because they couldn't fit in well for one reason or another.
I came as a refugee from the Latin church, albeit I had been wondering the wilds of paganism and atheism for quite some time, though I would note that I have no regrets about such and these perspectives are entirely relevant, as are all other perspectives on the journey to Christ's illuminating gift of enlightenment.
There is just something so very special about the spirit of the indwelling Christ in us all. The liberation and ecstasy. The harder you try to understand the Christ the more mysterious the Christ becomes.
And what's fascinated me is that I felt drawn to this religion by offering a safe place to explore a very different brand of Christian spirituality. A safe place to explore Mormonism.
So, I will remain humble on the topic of the Trinity, as it's kind of a massive ball of yarn to unravel and I want to have a good sense of the theology.
But to be honest. I maybe need to just embrace the paradox on that one for now.
I dislike dissonance, and the trinity's foundations and the facts of critical analysis do not jive, and my computer-brain doesn't go-with-the-flow very well. But that's my cross to bear, I suppose.
My concern is how would Jesus have personally conceived of the Divine?
I'm still piecing together fuzzy thoughts. So there will be a part 2 on this section's notes.