YOU are the Christ

happy birthday!

This is a short Christmas message from me to you, that’s better watched than read. It includes a passage from the teacher’s manual of A Course in Miracles in a section called How Will the World End?

The world will end in joy, because it is a place of sorrow. 
When joy has come, the purpose of the world has gone. 

The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. 
When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? 

The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears. 
Where there is laughter, who can longer weep? 

And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world. 
In blessing it departs, for it will not end as it began. 

To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers, 
for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. 

And now sit down in true humility, and realize that all God would have you do you can do. Do not be arrogant and say you cannot learn His Own curriculum.
 
His Word says otherwise. 
His Will be done. 
It cannot be otherwise. 
And be you thankful it is so.

---

This is a poem I wrote many years ago, starting with a quote from my favorite song:

The Holy Dark
I remember when I moved in you, 
the holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew 
was Hallelujah
	Leonard Cohen

A homeless man told me 
every soul speaks a different language.  
The interesting thing happens 
when you learn someone else's
and you find that you're talking
to yourself.
Jesus, he continued, 
wasn’t the Christ 
until he looked in the eyes of Thomas
and saw his own looking back.

He called this The Science of Intimacy.
But chemistry or metaphysics?
I know that hunger in the night where 
bodies join almost without waking.  
An ancient call made and answered, 
not a particular man and woman,
at the same time, only 
this man and this woman,
lifting and crashing
in the fist of a pounding sea.

The place where self and not-self blur:
madness or sanity at last?
Sometimes the words 
my tongue has lost come tumbling 
from another mouth;
or a casual phrase plunders my heart, 
knowing just where the key 
is hidden.  
I've felt my pulse skip 
to synchronize and match another's 
stride for stride.
A stranger by the spice bins calls 
my true name, and the secret burns 
like pepper on our lips.

Coincidence?  the holy tramp says, 
Coincidence is God's way
of keeping her anonymity.
He breaks the bottle's seal and murmurs,
For all the thirsty spirits,
silently pouring a capful 
onto the ground.

---

Enjoy the people you love. I think that despite outer appearances, we’re entering a charmed year that will be a turning point. Rejoice!

I have ideas that I’ll be sharing soon for ways that I want to engage in 2024 with this community that I’m so grateful for, of like-minds asking the same questions.

But there’s plenty of time for that. Right now I’m with my daughters, who are magic when they’re together. Have a happy wholly holy day, celebrating you!