I imagine my faith surrounded with “Under Reconstruction” roadsigns. I am among multitudes of “Former Christians.” We move along a broad spectrum including “new atheists,” “nones” (no religious affiliation checking the “none” box on certain forms), “spiritual but not religious,” to a number of people like me who find meaning in the ancient journey of reconnecting with Jesus and his early community but in a way that is non-hierarchical, non-patriarchal, non-heteronormative, anti-systemic-racist, very friendly with science, while taking seriously the “prophetic call” to be radically inclusive, non-oppressive, always liberative, and mutually empowering.
In my road reconstruction work (and prayer), Ilia Delio’s thinking oxygenates my soul (yes, I switched metaphors). Here’s a life-expanding taste:
“The Center for Christogenesis is oriented toward a unified Godworld, a reframing of religion as the driving force of evolution, illuminating the divine light in the human spheres of science, technology, the arts, politics, economics and sociality. A unified Godworld relationship, as a living center of the energies of love, can inspire conversion from consumerist greed to shared life; from material stuff to sacramentality and awe and wonder. We focus on deepening our understanding of open and relational theology, realizing that neither we nor God are finished in this world of becoming.”
To me that smacks of the living Jesus, the universal Christ, and the earliest AND contemporary Spirit-zested Community and Communion. That oxygen and zest and fearlessness is why my wife and I increase our giving to the Center for Christogenesis annually. Please join us in a thrilling journey of reconstruction and evolution.
Ed Bacon is an Episcopal priest, author of 8 Habits of Love, and serves on the Center for Christogenesis Board of Directors
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