Rev. Don Erickson

  Speaking to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul says this about that church - You are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it. Christ is the head, the heart, mind, the soul, and we are the body. Contemplating this poetic truth produced a poem I share as my short meditation: We hear him sung about a lot. That old hymn comes to mind. We sing it in church. O how I love Jesus, O, how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus because he first loved me. But do we love all of Christ or only his mind, heart, and soul, that which rests in heaven, Invisible to us? What about the rest, though? Do we love the whole of him, soul and body? Do we love we his body or just Christ in part? Do we love just the heavenly stuff But not what labors and toils here on earth? I spent much of my life not seeing the connection, stuck in the easier stuff of loving just Jesus because he loved me, and you, friend, neighbor, even enemy. Loving someone who loves so purely, loving the perfect heart of Jesu...

Are you at one with Christ? What a question to begin with, hey? We love the thought of unity. That all may be one, we quote Jesus as saying. It's a central verse to the UCC. Jesus gives a prerequisite for this kind of unity. We must be one with him, with Christ so that we might be one with God. Real unity comes by way of Christ. He is the vehicle that brings us to unity in God. Once arrived, we experience unity with others and with the world around us in God. Separated from God, there can be no unity. In God, connected to God, is where unity happens. That’s what Jesus is saying here. But ultimate unity in God begins with our oneness with Christ. What does it mean to be at one with Christ? Imagine two whole-body silhouettes of yourself and Christ. Two silhouettes each with defined lines and separated from one another. Imagine those silhouettes embracing. What happens? Two silhouettes become one silhouette. The lines of separation are no longer present in the whole-body silhouette. T...