Far back into the unknowable past, even before the beginning, stretching out into the incomprehensible, unfathomable depths, dark and void of infinite eternity behind and beyond all history, the Christpower was alive.
This was the living, pulsing, generating, creating, smoldering, exploding, fusing, multiplying, emerging, heating and cooling power of life itself: Christpower. And it was good!
Here all things that we know began their journey into being. Here is where light separated from darkness. The sky surrounding earth held an eternity of the beginning and ending moments of creation. A ball of blazing, red fire harkening the genesis of what was yet to be and in the deep azure space just above the horizon sat a sliver of moon hanging onto the last, stolen secrets of the night before. Here, in time, Christpower began to take form and life became real, and that life spread into emerging new and evolving creatures.
There was a sacrifice here and a mutation there. There was grace and resurrection appearing in their natural order, occurring, recurring, and always driven by the ceaseless, restless, creating, energizing life force of God, Atman, Divine – Christpower. And it flowed and pulsated in the veins of every living thing for ever and ever. And it was good!
In time, in this universe, there emerged creatures called human, and the uniqueness of these creatures lay in that, in time, through self-reflection, they could perceive this life-giving power. They could name it many things and embrace it in the dark times and light times. They could grow with it and yearn for it.
Thus human life was born, but individual expressions of that human life were marked with a sense of incompleteness, inadequacy, and a hunger that drove them ever beyond the self to search for the source of life’s power. This was a humanity that could not be content with anything less.
Humanity infinitely small as it learned to recognize its place in the infinite expanse of the cosmos, and in time recognized its magnificence while suspended and cradled between cosmic lights. In the blink of an eye humanity knew the embrace of ancient energy, reminding us what it means to be child of the universe, a son or daughter of Earth, a member of a cosmic family.
And once again in that process of emergence there was sacrifice and mutation, grace and resurrection now in the human order, occurring, recurring. And it was good!
Human life was seen with a new intensity of the primal power of the universe, whole, complete, loving, living, being at one, at peace, at rest – Christpower. And it was good!
So we became agents of that power, sharing those gifts from generation to generation, creating and re-creating, transforming, redeeming, reinterpreting tradition, transcending tradition that no longer serves, while including the best of who we have been, and making all things new. And as this power moved among human beings, light once more separated from darkness. And it was good!
With every breath in we were more alive than the moment before. And with every breath out we rested in a peace that held a depth and breadth we could never fully comprehend. This beauty could only be known through surrendering to a greater good, and in listening to a truth I can never explain – Christpower.
As humans grew, each discovered the beauty of who they truly are by needing others and immersing in the sweetness of belonging to each other. Our eyes learn to gaze upon people with love, seeing each face as precious and unique. And when we felt alone, when it’s dark, and there is no light, we learned to open our hearts and see with eyes of Christpower, seeing us as one and the same. And it was good!
And in the blink of an eye, that solitary essence of Christpower taps us on the shoulder – as one might do while dancing in order to “cut in” – bows to us, and extends a hand of invitation into the collective dance we call life. All we need to do is humbly bow in return – step forward in humble surrender, and grasp the cosmic hands waiting to captivate us yet again. The Christpower hands that are the cosmic custodians desiring to protect us, cherish us, love us, and whisper in our ears yet again, “remember, it is good…”
And once again in the process of emergence, we practiced the sabbath which is indeed the precious gift of life, and see it mirrored in nature, which is quiet in the wintertime, but will once again be given away in the spring, only to be withdrawn again when autumn approaches, as we know it will.
This is the living, pulsing, generating, creating, emerging, heating and cooling power of life itself: Christpower. And it is good!
To know Christpower is to live fully, to love wastefully, to be all we have come here to be.
Inspired by the work of Bishop John Shelby Spong
