The Cosmic Christ with Michelle Medrano

[00:00:01] This is Josh Reeves and you're listening to the Mile Hi Church Podcast. Thanks for listening.

[00:00:06] Hey, December 23rd and 24th are our candlelight services. They are inspiring, revelatory, and give you a sense of hope for yourself and humanity.

[00:00:15] And I don't know about you, but I sure do need it. The 23rd and 24th, 1, 4, and 7, and the 7 p.m. are streaming online. Hope you can join us.

[00:00:23] My message is The Cosmic Christ and I'm titling that because I really want to talk about our teaching, our belief about this great teacher Jesus who walked the earth.

[00:00:37] How we can embrace the cosmic Christ and how we can have a better understanding of who we are in the world of faith around Jesus and are we Christian or not.

[00:00:49] And it can be kind of a confusing thing. I remember as I've contemplated this this week, I've giggled a few times about a story of something that happened to me back in Arizona.

[00:01:00] In my community there, we had a variety of people from many walks of faith just like we do here.

[00:01:06] And we had quite a few people who had been practicing their Jewish traditions most of their life, some who'd left their Jewish faith.

[00:01:14] But a lot of people from non-Christian belief systems in our community there.

[00:01:21] And of course, knowing your audience, I was careful and mindful of not wanting to be too traditional Christian, which we are not.

[00:01:31] And at the same time, wanting to honor Jesus and his power in the world as a spiritual teacher.

[00:01:38] And so it was an interesting dance as it is in most communities like ours.

[00:01:44] And my son at the time was about five years old and he'd been going to the youth program in my center.

[00:01:50] And I thought we were all aligned with this.

[00:01:53] And I wanted to raise him in a way that I could teach him a little bit more of a balanced message around who this man Jesus was.

[00:02:01] That was my intention.

[00:02:02] So one morning, it was a Sunday morning, I go in to get my son up for church and I find him in bed.

[00:02:08] He's asleep and he's on his side and he's facing the wall in his bed.

[00:02:11] And I sit down on the bed and I shake him a little bit.

[00:02:14] And I say, honey, it's time to get up.

[00:02:16] We're going to go to church.

[00:02:18] And he says to me, mom, I want to go see Jesus.

[00:02:23] And I'm like, what?

[00:02:27] What?

[00:02:28] And I said, honey, what?

[00:02:30] You want to go see who?

[00:02:31] And he goes, I want to go see Jesus.

[00:02:34] And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, what are they teaching him in my youth programs?

[00:02:40] Where is he learning?

[00:02:42] I was just kind of shocked because we hadn't really begun our education about Jesus at all in our family.

[00:02:49] And I finally said, you know, honey, could you turn over and look at me?

[00:02:52] I'm not sure I totally understand what you're saying.

[00:02:55] And he rolled over and looked at me with exasperation.

[00:02:57] And he said, mom, I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese's.

[00:03:06] Oh, that I get.

[00:03:08] And we're going to do that for sure right after church.

[00:03:14] And so I find that the confusion, the questions, the what is the meaning of Jesus in the life of a community like ours?

[00:03:24] Very valid, important questions.

[00:03:27] We deal with these questions a lot in our classes.

[00:03:30] We dive into that conversation.

[00:03:33] We want to have a deeper understanding.

[00:03:36] And so one of the first questions that people ask as they come into a community like this,

[00:03:42] or maybe people are asking those of us who are in the community, people in our life, in our family, in our friends,

[00:03:50] are we Christian?

[00:03:51] Is this a Christian faith tradition or not?

[00:03:54] And I would say that based on who you talk to, you might get a different answer, right?

[00:03:59] A different minister, a different practitioner prayer partner, a different member or participant in the community,

[00:04:05] that it seems as though when it comes to that question, are we a Christian faith?

[00:04:11] There's sometimes some confusion.

[00:04:13] Now, it makes some sense given the history and the life of our founder, Ernest Holmes,

[00:04:19] and of most New Thought traditions that are trying to walk that line,

[00:04:24] as I talked about in the beginning of wanting to honor this great master teacher, Jesus,

[00:04:30] who walked this earth plane and we believe existed and gave great things to the world.

[00:04:35] And at the same time, not always aligning with some of the things that we hear about what it really means to be Christian in our world.

[00:04:45] And our founder, Ernest Holmes, was raised in a Christian family.

[00:04:49] It was interesting that I think it was in Ernest Holmes' His Life and Times,

[00:04:54] his brother Fenwick wrote a biography about Ernest.

[00:04:58] And I think he told the story that they lived out in the east

[00:05:03] and they would go to church every Sunday to a Christian church.

[00:05:07] And Fenwick reports that almost every week as they drove back home in their carriage with their horse-drawn carriage,

[00:05:14] there would be some point where their parents would stop and turn to all the siblings and say,

[00:05:18] now look, that preacher is a very respectable person, a very God-loving person, a very spiritual person,

[00:05:26] but he's got it all wrong when it comes to the hellfire and damnation.

[00:05:29] There's no hell, there's no evil, there's no devil, and Jesus was a loving presence,

[00:05:35] and don't believe any of that stuff you're hearing.

[00:05:38] And so that's what Ernest Holmes grew up with.

[00:05:41] And at the same time, grew up in a belief and a sense of the power of the presence of these beautiful words.

[00:05:51] In fact, he quotes Jesus quite a bit in many of his writings.

[00:05:55] He quotes scripture, mostly the New Testament.

[00:05:57] He does bring scripture into the teaching.

[00:06:02] And at the same time, this is a teaching that is a very open-ended and free teaching.

[00:06:09] I often call it like a buffet.

[00:06:12] You come to our communities and there's this huge buffet of sustenance put out before you.

[00:06:18] And just like any buffet, there is no compulsion that you must eat everything on that buffet,

[00:06:24] young man or woman or person.

[00:06:25] You must eat everything in there.

[00:06:27] We say, take what you like.

[00:06:30] Please enjoy what serves you.

[00:06:32] If that doesn't serve you, please don't have any of it.

[00:06:35] And so people come here and they participate fully and completely and they find their own way.

[00:06:40] And that was what really appealed to me when I was a young person growing up here,

[00:06:45] a teenager coming in to this community.

[00:06:48] I can say absolutely that part of why I left Christian traditions that I had grown up in and the Catholic church is that I had a deep connection to the master teacher Jesus from the time I was a little girl.

[00:07:06] And I would go into the churches and feel not quite sure about what I was being told all the time in every respect about Jesus.

[00:07:18] Something in me would go, that doesn't resonate.

[00:07:21] I don't get that.

[00:07:23] And indeed, that's exactly my confusion and my propensity to question and want to have more dialogue is exactly what got me kicked out of catechism.

[00:07:37] Yeah, I left and thought, okay, if I can't even ask these questions here, then I guess I don't belong here anymore.

[00:07:45] And so my mother and I wandered the desert of spiritual faith traditions for a few years until we found Mile High Church.

[00:07:54] And when we came here, that ability to question and to find my own answers and to find my own journey with everything,

[00:08:04] including my relationship in and with Jesus, is an important element of my spiritual journey.

[00:08:12] And while I bless all of the people of our planet who have a relationship with Jesus,

[00:08:17] and I want people to have what feels best to them,

[00:08:22] I also know that I love the openness of our teaching.

[00:08:27] Are we Christian or not?

[00:08:29] Sometimes when someone asks me that question, and we ministers were talking about this,

[00:08:33] I will say to them, please tell me how you define a Christian.

[00:08:38] If a Christian is defined as someone who has to believe that the only way that they can find God is through Jesus,

[00:08:45] or has to believe that Jesus is the one and only prophet that's ever existed,

[00:08:50] or has to believe that Jesus would ever in any way, shape, or form exclude anyone on this planet from the kingdom of heaven,

[00:08:59] then no, we're not Christian.

[00:09:01] But what I think defines us and connects us with Jesus, who himself was not a Christian,

[00:09:11] Jesus was a Jewish man.

[00:09:14] Jesus was following his Jewish traditions, Jewish law.

[00:09:18] Jesus was very committed to his Jewish traditions.

[00:09:21] It wasn't until later on that people who were followers of him became known as Christians.

[00:09:27] But he himself was not, would never call himself that.

[00:09:31] You never will find anywhere in any of the scriptures that had been written,

[00:09:36] they were written years after Jesus was even alive,

[00:09:40] and then they were translated and handed down from people to people in various languages

[00:09:47] until we have various forms of scriptures and various writers who don't always align with themselves.

[00:09:53] And so we are left, I think exactly as the great master teacher would have liked it,

[00:10:00] to find our path from our own inner knowing.

[00:10:04] If the definition of being Christian means Jesus is king and Lord and all powerful,

[00:10:12] which I don't see any signs even in those scriptures that have been handed down,

[00:10:18] that he ever wanted that, he did not seek after that power,

[00:10:21] or the no, I don't align with being a Christian.

[00:10:25] But the deeper sense of the cosmic Christ does call me.

[00:10:30] Jesus never called himself a king and did not want to be a king.

[00:10:33] There's a cute story that I saw about the king in a Reader's Digest.

[00:10:39] It came from a woman named Julia Loomis.

[00:10:44] She says that at Christmas time every year,

[00:10:46] her church had a Christmas pageant, which we will have here Wednesday night.

[00:10:51] Our kids do this adorable Christmas pageant.

[00:10:54] And that she and her family were up in the balcony,

[00:10:57] and her brother was there with her little five-year-old nephew.

[00:11:01] And they were looking down as the kids were coming down the aisle,

[00:11:05] the wise men to come up for the nativity play.

[00:11:08] And I guess her brother said to the little boy,

[00:11:11] Curtis, you're missing it.

[00:11:13] He was bored, bored, bored.

[00:11:14] And so he said, look down, look down.

[00:11:17] The king, you're missing the king.

[00:11:19] And so all of a sudden, the little boy, Curtis, looked down.

[00:11:22] He said, that's Elvis?

[00:11:28] The king, the true king, right?

[00:11:33] There's this invitation to expand our awareness and consciousness

[00:11:39] around the nature of Jesus, which I think has to do with the Christ,

[00:11:44] the cosmic Christ, a deeper understanding that he was not a king.

[00:11:48] He did not seek to be a king.

[00:11:50] He did not seek the authoritarianism that comes with being a king.

[00:11:54] He did not seek the power.

[00:11:56] He did not seek the ability to vanquish his enemies.

[00:11:59] It was actually quite the opposite.

[00:12:02] In his great book, The Mystical Messiah,

[00:12:05] the wonderful author, speaker, and teacher, Alan Cohen,

[00:12:10] says, Jesus is a man in common with Joshua and Jehoshaphat.

[00:12:14] Jesus is a name like Ernest or any other name.

[00:12:18] Christ, interpreted, does not mean the only begotten son of God,

[00:12:22] but it means the son begotten of the only God.

[00:12:26] This is an entirely different light.

[00:12:29] Jesus did not say, I am he,

[00:12:31] and unless ye believe that I am he,

[00:12:33] you shall perish in your sins.

[00:12:36] He said, Spirit, I am.

[00:12:40] Unless ye believe that I am which is God,

[00:12:44] you shall perish in your sins.

[00:12:46] The name of Jesus means the understanding of the nature of Christ.

[00:12:51] This is our Savior.

[00:12:54] This is our Savior.

[00:12:56] The understanding of the nature of Christ.

[00:13:00] Christ.

[00:13:00] It's a thing that when we start to understand the history of the times

[00:13:05] and the historical Jesus,

[00:13:07] we can understand maybe a little bit about how the world got to be this way

[00:13:11] when it comes to Jesus, the great teacher.

[00:13:14] Because after his death,

[00:13:17] his followers were left a little bit confused.

[00:13:22] Aluna Chen, one of our great practitioner prayer partners,

[00:13:25] suggested to my husband Ken and me that we watch a series called The Chosen recently.

[00:13:30] Has anybody else watched it?

[00:13:32] A great series.

[00:13:33] I think really, really depicts how I have always imagined that teacher, Jesus, to exist.

[00:13:41] And it shows, as do the Gospels if you read them,

[00:13:45] many times those disciples were confused.

[00:13:48] And the followers were confused.

[00:13:50] Because Jesus had been prophesied that he would come,

[00:13:55] that a great leader would come.

[00:13:57] But many people, what they wanted from their great leader,

[00:14:00] as I said earlier,

[00:14:01] was that he would vanquish their enemies.

[00:14:03] That he would be a king and a great leader

[00:14:06] who would take care of the Romans who were oppressing the Jews at the time.

[00:14:10] And that he would be violent or he would get an army together.

[00:14:14] And you can even see in the scriptures,

[00:14:17] when they come to take Jesus away in the Garden of Gethsemane,

[00:14:21] that some of the disciples pull out their swords.

[00:14:24] Like they're going to fight off the Roman soldiers.

[00:14:26] And even in that moment, Jesus says,

[00:14:29] No, put your swords down.

[00:14:31] We're not going to fight.

[00:14:33] He was non-violent.

[00:14:35] He was not interested in taking care of those Romans.

[00:14:39] He was interested in human souls.

[00:14:41] He was interested in sharing about the kingdom of heaven.

[00:14:46] He was interested in awakening humanity to its spiritual magnificence.

[00:14:53] He was interested in loving and healing

[00:14:56] and showing the wholeness of God's love to people.

[00:15:01] That's what Jesus was there to do.

[00:15:04] And some of his followers were disappointed.

[00:15:07] And after his death, were confused and did not know what to do.

[00:15:10] So they began to follow the letter of the law.

[00:15:14] Thinking about everything he'd said and every word he'd uttered.

[00:15:17] And began to try in a very specific way to create a movement.

[00:15:23] When Jesus was alive, it is said that he called what he did was the way.

[00:15:29] That people were followers of the way.

[00:15:31] And sometimes they would talk to each other.

[00:15:32] Are you a follower of the way?

[00:15:34] He was a way shower.

[00:15:38] And so some of his followers, in their attempts to practice the way,

[00:15:43] got more interested in rules.

[00:15:45] Got more interested in preciseness.

[00:15:49] And what did he say about this?

[00:15:51] And what did he say we couldn't do?

[00:15:52] And what did he say the rules were about this?

[00:15:54] And then there were some of his other followers

[00:15:57] who started a whole different movement

[00:15:59] that was based on the mystic teachings,

[00:16:02] that was based on healings,

[00:16:04] that was based on what they heard around love.

[00:16:07] They were called the Gnostics.

[00:16:09] The early Christians and the Gnostics.

[00:16:12] Two very distinct movements.

[00:16:14] The Gnostics were interested in how do we help people heal?

[00:16:19] How do we bring forth the light?

[00:16:22] How do we continue this journey?

[00:16:23] They weren't as interested in the rules

[00:16:26] and the following of everything to a T.

[00:16:29] And they were somewhat suppressed for a long time.

[00:16:32] But I would say that these two movements of Christianity

[00:16:37] are very distinct and that we would fall in alignment

[00:16:41] with the Christian Gnostics.

[00:16:44] That Holmes, who was a mystic,

[00:16:48] who sought to also call forth each one of us

[00:16:53] into our mystic nature,

[00:16:55] that's where we fit into this story

[00:16:58] as a teaching, as a movement, as a community.

[00:17:01] Ernest Holmes says,

[00:17:04] just as Alan Cohen,

[00:17:06] Jesus is the name of a man.

[00:17:08] Jesus was the Christ.

[00:17:11] Jesus became increasingly the Christ

[00:17:14] as his mentality increasingly perceived

[00:17:18] the relationship of the man Jesus

[00:17:20] to the Christ principle,

[00:17:22] which is inherent in all people.

[00:17:24] This Christ has come in certain measures of power

[00:17:29] throughout the ages to different ones

[00:17:31] and still does come and is ever inherent

[00:17:34] within each of us.

[00:17:37] Christ is not a noun or a name.

[00:17:40] It is a verb.

[00:17:42] It is a way of being.

[00:17:44] It is a way of activating the light within us.

[00:17:47] And the cosmic Christ,

[00:17:49] what is the cosmic Christ then?

[00:17:52] That is the awareness of this cosmic Christ energy,

[00:17:57] this Christ-like energy being everywhere.

[00:18:01] Cosmic, man, right?

[00:18:03] Really like big, big, big.

[00:18:07] Cosmic is universal, relating to the universe.

[00:18:11] It is, in one of the definitions I saw,

[00:18:15] inconceivably vast.

[00:18:16] It's big and expansive and inclusive of all.

[00:18:20] And in modern theology,

[00:18:23] we hear in the last 40 or 50 years

[00:18:26] some very powerful voices

[00:18:28] speaking about the cosmic Christ.

[00:18:30] Not only our own Ernest Holmes,

[00:18:33] but Teilhard de Chardin,

[00:18:34] who is a powerful mystic.

[00:18:37] We hear of Matthew Fox

[00:18:39] was a great speaker and teacher

[00:18:41] of the mystic Christ.

[00:18:42] One of my favorites is Bishop John Shelby Spong,

[00:18:46] who was an Episcopal bishop,

[00:18:48] who sought in his lifetime

[00:18:51] to awaken the Christians,

[00:18:54] modern Christians,

[00:18:55] to the cosmic Christ.

[00:18:58] He believed very strongly

[00:19:00] that if Christianity persisted

[00:19:02] in being all about the rules

[00:19:04] and the dogma,

[00:19:06] that it is going to die.

[00:19:08] But if it would be willing

[00:19:10] to be expanded

[00:19:11] to include this cosmic notion

[00:19:14] that he felt and said as much

[00:19:17] that the Christ has shown itself

[00:19:20] in spiritual teachers and teachings

[00:19:23] throughout the ages,

[00:19:24] it is not something

[00:19:25] that is only about Jesus.

[00:19:28] That if Christianity

[00:19:29] could begin to see

[00:19:30] and evolve in that direction,

[00:19:32] that it could become

[00:19:33] a powerful movement

[00:19:35] that could change

[00:19:36] the course of humanity.

[00:19:37] He talked about

[00:19:39] how the Christ principle

[00:19:42] is within all people

[00:19:43] and that this Christ principle,

[00:19:46] the capacity for love,

[00:19:48] compassion, selflessness,

[00:19:50] is present in everyone,

[00:19:52] allowing all of us

[00:19:53] to connect with the divine

[00:19:55] through our own actions.

[00:19:57] And so he talks about

[00:19:58] the cosmic Christ

[00:20:00] and suggests that

[00:20:02] the divine is not limited

[00:20:03] to a single person or deity,

[00:20:05] but present throughout the universe.

[00:20:07] In nature

[00:20:08] and in all living things.

[00:20:11] So if we deepen our awareness

[00:20:14] into the cosmic Christ

[00:20:16] as we stand here together

[00:20:17] on December 1st,

[00:20:19] facing now another Christmas,

[00:20:22] Christmas of 2024,

[00:20:23] what does it really mean

[00:20:25] to be born again?

[00:20:27] What does the birth of Christ

[00:20:29] mean to us?

[00:20:30] Clearly in this teaching,

[00:20:32] we celebrate the Christian holidays

[00:20:34] of Christmas and Easter.

[00:20:36] We also,

[00:20:37] because Holmes believed

[00:20:38] that there's a golden thread

[00:20:40] that is running

[00:20:41] through our teaching,

[00:20:42] we celebrate the holidays

[00:20:43] of many, many other faith traditions.

[00:20:46] Certainly honoring

[00:20:48] and studying

[00:20:49] and learning about other faiths

[00:20:52] to inspire and uplift us.

[00:20:55] And specifically today,

[00:20:56] I want to invite us

[00:20:58] here in the final minutes

[00:20:59] we have to say,

[00:21:00] what is it that we're going

[00:21:03] to experience

[00:21:04] in terms of the birth of Christ?

[00:21:06] Will this just be another Christmas?

[00:21:09] Will it just be another holiday?

[00:21:11] I spoke a little bit

[00:21:12] about this last week,

[00:21:14] about the marching of the holidays,

[00:21:16] but when it comes to Christmas,

[00:21:19] can we celebrate

[00:21:20] that Christ's light in us?

[00:21:22] How might we approach

[00:21:24] that Christ's light?

[00:21:25] Every year as Christmas arrives,

[00:21:27] I ask myself that question.

[00:21:29] We start planning around here

[00:21:31] for the candlelight services

[00:21:33] in May.

[00:21:36] We've been hearing Christmas songs,

[00:21:38] reading Christmas scripts,

[00:21:41] preparing Christmas decorations

[00:21:42] for a very long time.

[00:21:44] So we're caught up in it a lot.

[00:21:46] In order for me

[00:21:47] not to be bored with it,

[00:21:49] I have to really push myself

[00:21:52] into a deepened understanding

[00:21:54] of the birth,

[00:21:56] the birth of the Christ in me.

[00:21:59] The birth of Jesus

[00:22:01] was a fulfillment of prophecy.

[00:22:04] And it was not only

[00:22:06] the fulfillment of prophecy,

[00:22:07] as he grew older

[00:22:09] and began to speak,

[00:22:10] he said to the people,

[00:22:12] I bring a new covenant of love

[00:22:15] between humanity and God.

[00:22:19] I'm here to say

[00:22:21] that the old ways

[00:22:22] that humans have seen God

[00:22:24] as some scary thing in the sky

[00:22:27] that's judging,

[00:22:28] as something horrible,

[00:22:30] that that's over.

[00:22:31] He came to take away

[00:22:33] the sins of the world.

[00:22:34] I remember in Catholic Church,

[00:22:36] Lamb of God

[00:22:36] who takes away

[00:22:37] the sins of the world.

[00:22:38] So as I grew older,

[00:22:40] here was one of my poignant questions

[00:22:42] as I stepped away

[00:22:44] from my Catholic background.

[00:22:45] If he took away

[00:22:46] the sins of the world,

[00:22:48] why are we so obsessed

[00:22:49] with our sins?

[00:22:51] He came here to say,

[00:22:54] oh, beloveds,

[00:22:55] you may make some missteps.

[00:22:58] You may make some mistakes.

[00:23:01] You may not do things

[00:23:02] that you're always proud of

[00:23:03] or that you're happy about.

[00:23:05] But you can never sin

[00:23:07] in a way that would separate you

[00:23:11] from the kingdom of heaven

[00:23:12] or from God.

[00:23:14] That's what he said.

[00:23:16] And he said that to all beings,

[00:23:19] even the horrible ones

[00:23:21] that he encountered,

[00:23:22] even the Romans.

[00:23:26] He brought a covenant of love.

[00:23:28] So for me,

[00:23:30] this Christmas,

[00:23:31] as I've asked myself,

[00:23:33] even here on December 1st,

[00:23:35] what does the birth of Christ

[00:23:36] mean to me?

[00:23:37] To me,

[00:23:38] it means a deeper walk

[00:23:40] than ever before

[00:23:42] in the love that God

[00:23:44] is as me.

[00:23:46] What can that love do?

[00:23:48] How can that love be active?

[00:23:51] Jesus demonstrated this love

[00:23:54] by loving everyone,

[00:23:57] by talking over and over again

[00:24:00] about how we can

[00:24:02] and should love all beings.

[00:24:05] He demonstrated it

[00:24:06] in being willing to heal

[00:24:08] anyone who came to him.

[00:24:10] He never said,

[00:24:11] I'm not going to heal you

[00:24:12] because you're not good enough.

[00:24:14] And many times you hear

[00:24:15] in the stories

[00:24:15] that the disciples would say,

[00:24:17] oh no, no Lord,

[00:24:18] don't go near him or her.

[00:24:20] They're not clean

[00:24:21] and he would not listen.

[00:24:22] He would still step up.

[00:24:25] He did not exclude anyone

[00:24:28] from the kingdom of heaven

[00:24:30] or from his love.

[00:24:32] He preached forgiveness.

[00:24:35] Forgiveness,

[00:24:35] which is the biggest act of love

[00:24:38] we could ever entertain

[00:24:39] to forgive those

[00:24:41] whom we are angry with

[00:24:43] or have been betrayed by.

[00:24:45] And he walked a life

[00:24:48] where he told his followers,

[00:24:49] love your enemies.

[00:24:51] Love the people

[00:24:52] whom you find unlovable.

[00:24:55] Love them anyway.

[00:24:57] Send love their way.

[00:24:58] So for me,

[00:25:00] a way to birth

[00:25:01] the Christ in me

[00:25:04] is to birth that love

[00:25:07] for all humans

[00:25:08] to ask myself,

[00:25:10] is there anyone

[00:25:11] whom I've left out

[00:25:12] of my heart today?

[00:25:14] Is there anyone

[00:25:15] who I repeatedly

[00:25:16] and habitually

[00:25:17] leave out of my heart?

[00:25:19] It doesn't mean

[00:25:19] I have to like everyone

[00:25:20] or cozy up

[00:25:22] to every single person

[00:25:23] on the planet,

[00:25:23] but to love

[00:25:25] is to bring forth

[00:25:28] my cosmic Christ nature

[00:25:32] and to allow myself

[00:25:35] to deepen my awareness

[00:25:38] of the Christ light in me.

[00:25:42] As I said,

[00:25:43] Christmas and holidays

[00:25:44] can get rather rote,

[00:25:45] but here's what I know

[00:25:47] about myself

[00:25:48] and each one of us.

[00:25:49] I don't know

[00:25:50] if you realize it,

[00:25:51] but Christmas was just

[00:25:52] about a year ago here.

[00:25:56] Dr. Barry,

[00:25:57] like it falls on the 25th

[00:25:58] of every December, right?

[00:25:59] You know that, right?

[00:26:00] I love when he makes

[00:26:01] those jokes.

[00:26:02] But here's the thing.

[00:26:05] You and I are not

[00:26:06] the same people

[00:26:06] we were a year ago.

[00:26:08] We've evolved,

[00:26:09] we've grown,

[00:26:10] we've deepened.

[00:26:11] So though we might

[00:26:12] be approaching something

[00:26:13] that we've approached

[00:26:14] however many times

[00:26:16] we've gone around

[00:26:17] this planet in our life

[00:26:19] and we might be tempted

[00:26:20] to go,

[00:26:20] oh, it's just

[00:26:21] another Christmas.

[00:26:22] It's not.

[00:26:24] Because every time

[00:26:25] we approach it

[00:26:26] with that awareness

[00:26:27] of the now moment,

[00:26:29] how can I manifest

[00:26:32] and be a manifestation

[00:26:33] of the birth of Christ

[00:26:35] on this planet

[00:26:36] right here

[00:26:36] and right now,

[00:26:37] we approach it

[00:26:39] from the evolutionary

[00:26:40] journey we've been on.

[00:26:41] It's just like

[00:26:42] I joke about

[00:26:43] when I read

[00:26:44] my Science of Mind book,

[00:26:45] which I've underlined

[00:26:46] and highlighted

[00:26:47] over and over again

[00:26:48] and I pull it out

[00:26:50] and I will read

[00:26:50] a passage

[00:26:51] and I have clearly

[00:26:52] read that passage

[00:26:53] before because

[00:26:54] I made notes on it

[00:26:55] and I highlighted it

[00:26:56] and I underlined it.

[00:26:57] Sometimes I even dated it

[00:26:58] and I think,

[00:26:59] I don't remember

[00:26:59] ever reading that

[00:27:02] because something in me

[00:27:04] is anew.

[00:27:06] Something in me

[00:27:07] is born again.

[00:27:09] This is what it means

[00:27:11] to be born again,

[00:27:12] to step fully into it,

[00:27:15] fully and completely

[00:27:16] and allow the cosmic Christ

[00:27:18] that lives within me

[00:27:19] to have its way

[00:27:21] into this birthing experience

[00:27:23] and every year

[00:27:24] allow the renewal

[00:27:26] of that cosmic energy

[00:27:28] in me

[00:27:29] to transform me

[00:27:31] and to give itself back.

[00:27:33] I'd like to close

[00:27:34] with a quote

[00:27:35] from Ernest Holmes

[00:27:36] where he talks

[00:27:37] about Christmas

[00:27:38] and invite us all

[00:27:40] in this holiday season

[00:27:42] to the cosmic Christ.

[00:27:44] To let go

[00:27:45] of all of our stories

[00:27:47] and our baggage

[00:27:48] and our stuff

[00:27:49] from the past

[00:27:50] we might have

[00:27:50] as I did

[00:27:51] from the past

[00:27:52] when I first got here

[00:27:54] about Jesus

[00:27:55] and Christianity

[00:27:56] and step into it

[00:27:57] for its meaning

[00:27:58] for me.

[00:27:59] Holmes says to us,

[00:28:02] it is at Christmas time

[00:28:03] that we commemorate

[00:28:04] the birth of Jesus

[00:28:05] whose destiny it was

[00:28:07] to proclaim

[00:28:08] the good news

[00:28:09] that the kingdom

[00:28:10] of God

[00:28:11] is at hand

[00:28:12] and who demonstrated it.

[00:28:15] It's a time

[00:28:16] of celebrating

[00:28:17] the greatest event

[00:28:18] of history,

[00:28:19] the advent

[00:28:19] of the knowledge

[00:28:20] of the birth of God

[00:28:21] in the human soul,

[00:28:24] the incarnation

[00:28:25] of the living spirit

[00:28:26] in,

[00:28:27] and I'm changing

[00:28:28] that word

[00:28:28] to us.

[00:28:30] Jesus was the great example,

[00:28:34] not the great exception.

[00:28:36] This is what you will hear

[00:28:37] more than anything

[00:28:38] when we talk about

[00:28:40] what we believe

[00:28:40] about Jesus here.

[00:28:41] Ernest Holmes,

[00:28:42] quote,

[00:28:43] Jesus was the great example,

[00:28:45] not the great exception.

[00:28:48] He was the one

[00:28:49] who showed the way

[00:28:50] and everything

[00:28:51] that he taught

[00:28:52] and everything

[00:28:52] that he did

[00:28:53] was to provide

[00:28:54] a lesson

[00:28:55] for all of us

[00:28:56] for all time.

[00:28:59] let us embrace

[00:29:01] the cosmic Christ.

[00:29:03] It's right here.

[00:29:04] It's right now.

[00:29:06] Please join me

[00:29:06] as we pray together.

[00:29:07] I invite our

[00:29:08] practitioner prayer partners

[00:29:09] to stand with me

[00:29:10] in this prayer

[00:29:11] and remind us

[00:29:12] that after our service

[00:29:13] is complete,

[00:29:13] our practitioner prayer partners

[00:29:15] will be down front here

[00:29:16] and you can come forward

[00:29:17] and they will

[00:29:18] pray for you

[00:29:19] and send you forth

[00:29:20] on a lovely prayer.

[00:29:23] And so we step

[00:29:25] into this space

[00:29:26] of divine presence

[00:29:27] allowing ourselves

[00:29:28] to feel,

[00:29:30] to sense

[00:29:30] and to breathe in

[00:29:33] the very breath

[00:29:34] of the divine

[00:29:35] right here

[00:29:36] and right now.

[00:29:37] To imagine

[00:29:38] the cosmic Christ,

[00:29:40] that Christ light

[00:29:42] that was in Jesus

[00:29:44] as well

[00:29:45] as so many other

[00:29:47] teachers

[00:29:48] and wayshowers

[00:29:50] on our planet

[00:29:51] to feel that light

[00:29:53] within us,

[00:29:54] to breathe into

[00:29:55] that space

[00:29:56] at the core

[00:29:57] of our being

[00:29:58] and hear that

[00:30:00] beckoning

[00:30:01] to us

[00:30:02] of the kingdom

[00:30:03] of heaven.

[00:30:03] It's at hand.

[00:30:05] It's right here.

[00:30:05] It's right now.

[00:30:06] The love

[00:30:07] that God is

[00:30:09] is right here.

[00:30:10] It's right now.

[00:30:11] It wasn't just present

[00:30:13] 2,000 years ago

[00:30:14] when a great one

[00:30:15] walked this earth.

[00:30:16] It has been

[00:30:17] present always

[00:30:19] and remains present

[00:30:20] now.

[00:30:21] That same energy,

[00:30:23] that same light

[00:30:24] that inspired

[00:30:25] and uplifted

[00:30:26] Jesus and his followers,

[00:30:28] it's available

[00:30:29] to us

[00:30:31] in this moment.

[00:30:32] And we breathe it in

[00:30:34] and we take it on

[00:30:35] and we allow it

[00:30:36] to bring forth

[00:30:38] great wisdom

[00:30:39] for each one of us

[00:30:40] about this holiday season.

[00:30:42] A deeper walk

[00:30:43] in Christmas,

[00:30:45] in the birth

[00:30:46] of the Christ light

[00:30:47] in us

[00:30:48] and continuing

[00:30:49] to expand

[00:30:50] and allow

[00:30:51] this light

[00:30:52] to have its way

[00:30:53] through us

[00:30:54] to be

[00:30:55] an example

[00:30:57] of the Christ.

[00:30:59] This is who we are

[00:31:00] and what we are

[00:31:01] and I proclaim

[00:31:02] and accept

[00:31:03] that this

[00:31:04] is made

[00:31:05] more visible

[00:31:06] in each of our lives

[00:31:07] in the days ahead.

[00:31:09] The wisdom

[00:31:09] and invitations

[00:31:10] in those quiet moments

[00:31:12] of prayer

[00:31:13] and meditation

[00:31:13] in those moments

[00:31:15] where we're busy

[00:31:15] and active

[00:31:16] in those moments

[00:31:17] where we're

[00:31:18] decorating for the holidays

[00:31:20] or wrapping gifts

[00:31:21] or at a gathering

[00:31:22] all of it

[00:31:24] all of it

[00:31:25] has great potential

[00:31:26] to lead us

[00:31:28] into

[00:31:28] the cosmic Christ

[00:31:29] the universal Christ

[00:31:31] the one mind

[00:31:32] the one heart

[00:31:33] the one life.

[00:31:35] This is who we are

[00:31:36] and what we are

[00:31:38] at all times

[00:31:39] and in all ways

[00:31:40] and I am so grateful

[00:31:41] to see and affirm this

[00:31:42] to proclaim this

[00:31:43] as the truth

[00:31:44] as I surrender

[00:31:45] this prayer

[00:31:46] into the action

[00:31:47] of the universal law

[00:31:48] letting it go

[00:31:49] and letting it be

[00:31:50] with great gratitude

[00:31:51] and faith

[00:31:52] and so it is.

[00:31:54] Amen.

[00:31:54] Thanks for listening

[00:31:56] to the Mile High Church

[00:31:57] podcast.

[00:31:58] This podcast

[00:31:59] is made possible

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