The Wild Christ and the Solidarity of the One Life
How the Anointer Became the Greening Passion of the Vine
The Reaching Hand and the Dance
The path felt harder under my feet as I walked with the other myrrhbearers toward the tomb. The lonesome sabbath had ended. His life had ended. Our hopes and fears warred with each other for days, yet hope persisted. In the light of the morning sun, we walked in silence. Our heartbreak and sweet memories joined us on the way.
Someone had rolled the stone away from the entrance to his tomb. His body wasn’t there.
Terror gripped me. My hope fell before my fear. Who took him and why?
I raced off. I can’t say why. The thought of finding his body didn’t enter my mind. Nothing did. He was gone, and now he was taken away.
In the distance, I saw the form of a gardener and called out to him, “Do you know where they took him?”
When I saw his face, my heart fell deep into the earth then sprang into the highest heaven.
“Rabboni!” I called out to him as I stretched out to touch him.
He smiled at me, and said, “Do not cling to me.”
He did not recoil, but stepped closer. “Do not pull away.”
As I gazed into his risen glory, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to scream, jump, run, and celebrate, all at the same time.
A gentle breeze blew through, and he turned with it.
I turned with it, and my heart leapt.
Together, we wended with the wind. Joined in awe, the heavens and the earth opened around us and we flew with abandon in the flow of life. My spirit and his entwined, without edge or boundary.
It was then I knew I could not seal him back in body as it had been before, just as he could not be contained by the tomb.
The Christ is wild, free and flowing through all that is, was, and ever shall be. He cannot be held, but joined in the dance.
We danced as one through the Glory and the Presence. Then I heard him say my name, “Mary.”
Life surged through my body. Joy broke out in song.
“Lover and Beloved, Dancer and Dance, what is the name of the moment? Who names the movement? What do you call this? Does it matter?” The Risen Christ asked. “If you cannot dance unless you name the dance, the rhythm itself is pressed so the life is forced from it. Dance free in the power of the Spirit. She flows from where no one knows to where it must be discovered along the way. When the dance is fixed and freedom rendered from it, it is like bread left to go stale. Seek the Spirit, and she will guide you through life to the unexpected glories found along the way.”
The Ascent and Descent of the One Life
In that moment, I saw the Christ as he is: the Word, the conversation between God and all the cosmos. Endlessly creating and caring for creation, caressing the face of every child, be they stars, worlds, sprouts, or creatures, the Christ is there.
The Wild Christ blossoms in the dream of the future and goes to seed in the memory of the past. He is the firstborn of all creation, who plays throughout the endless reel of life.
He spirals up to the heavens to join into the One Life and down into the heart of the earth. Life is not diminished by its many holders, it flourishes in them. This life greens the world, but the greening and the One Life flow together.
The Wild Christ said, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Our Mother is ever with us. I am the One in whom all things hold together, in every step of the dance, in every breath, in every moment.”
I found myself in the embrace of our Father, in the arms of our Mother, in the Presence of Our God. In Glory, the Presence of the Word sang with many voices. I ascended hand-in-hand with the Wild Christ and descended with him.
Lover and Beloved, Beloved and Lover, each is both to their own eyes.
Apostle to the Apostles
“Living Tower,” the Wild Christ said, “Go to my brothers, and tell them what you have seen. Teach them to dance. Open their eyes so they might see as you do, but do not push them. They are not broken. They are hurt. Heal their wounds, offering only what they need for the Light, Word, and Life to reach them again.”
I went off to seek them out, never leaving the side of the Wild Christ who is present in every ray of light, every shadow, every flower, and every grain of sand. He is in the dust and the rain, the field and the air.
“Oh, Magdalene,” the Wild Christ said, “Apostle to the Apostles, who held grace without clinging to it. Teach them to do the same.”
So I sought them in the city and the country, in the mountain and the valley, by the shore and in the desert. Up the way and down the path, I searched them all out.
As the Watchtower of the Holy One, I sought from the pinnacle and the gate. Climbing the stairs in unending prayer, and descending into the depths of life, I found them all.
I flowed with life throughout the land calling to Life, Glory, and Word. They were my constant companions, dancing with me in all the ways I would go.
The Tomb Could Not Contain Him
To each of the apostles I proclaimed the Living Word:
The hate of Babylon poured out upon Jesus. The fierceness of Mitzrayim drew the life from him. He entered the world to show us life and life more abundant, and left us with the peace that passes all understanding. He taught us the way of love (caritas), and the path we should walk.
Hate could not hold him. Fierce opposition could not destroy him. The Tomb could not contain him. He is alive! He lives!
Their fear, greed, and lust for power scourged his flesh and nailed him to a cross. They crowned him with thorns and stabbed him with a spear. No weapon forged against him could destroy him. They raised themselves above him and fell to the darkness where there is no light.
The Christ is before all things. He played before the Holy One before the cosmos spun into being. The Word echoed over the deep (tehom) as the chaos swirled.
As the Holy One spoke the Word over the deep, the Wild Christ went forth to call the cosmos to arise from the chaos so all things were made.
Who can silence the Voice of the One who is, was, and ever shall be? What hand can cover God’s mouth? Can the Almighty be bound by the snares of the wicked, or the One Life snuffed out like a candle?
No. None has such power or authority, though many claim it. The Word dwelled among us in Jesus, but as he walked the earth the cosmos did not fall apart and creation did not end. The Light and Life of God did not withdraw from the world so only Jesus could live, but dove into life through him so we might see and hear the Light and the Word with our very eyes and ears.
The Crucifixion of Christ could never kill the Living Word. The Tomb is empty. Jesus lives. Christ lives. Life ever flows through the cosmos, reconciling all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven, things visible and invisible, things touched and felt.
Christ is wild, without bridle or cage. His home is everywhere, and he calls all back home. His grace brings unity, not uniformity. Our foundation is sound and clear: through love we find life and peace.
Gather together to greet the Risen Christ, that death, hate, and fear could not contain. Gather in one accord in his love, for he lives and has never left us.
The Other Sheep of Every Fold
After the Spirit descended on Pentecost, I went out to find the other sheep, not of the fold in Judea and Galilee. Everywhere I went, I saw his face.
I followed the Living Word and the call of the Spirit beyond all boundaries and borders, and yet, I found the face of Christ everywhere I went.
I beheld awe over every hill and by every stream. Warm hearts greeted me along the way and we savored our time together. We spoke the Living Word together, though not always in the same way, but together it made such living music we could abide in its shelter or sojourn in its shade.
Sorrow greeted me at many stops, and we sat through the night and opened to the moment. Even in pain and grief, we found the music of the Living Word. Slow and careful, it guided through the keening, the circles of vigil, and quiet stillness.
Inspiration took me from one place to another and I marveled at the artistry and originality of all that I encountered. The word and image, food and drink, song and story, we shared and created the world anew from moment to moment.
The journey changed me as much as it changed those I encountered as we built the citadels of love and pushed against the injustice and inequity of the greedy, power-hungry, and fearful. In all things, we celebrated our communal joy.
I Am the Greening Passion
I am the anointer of the anointed, the companion of the savior. He is the Word, the Life, and the Light. I am the blessing, the flow, and the radiance. Wisdom and the lover of wisdom, he and I in a mutual dance.
He is the vine, and I am the greenness (viriditas) of the leaves, the sap flowing from root to branch. He does not contain me, and I don’t contain him. I am the greening passion, moving through the whole vine.
As anointer, I bring the blessings, the apostle of the apostles. He is the anointed, the Blessed One honored as the beating heart of love, which is life.
When I saw his face at the tomb, I saw the man he was while he walked with us, but also as the first face I saw as a baby fresh born to all the wonders of the world.
The anointer does not seal and the anointed is not sealed. He is the lamb who breaks the seals so the book of life is open to all. Grace cannot be contained. Grace ever-flows from life to life as love connects us all.
Become Evergreen
Blessed child, seek out the One in whom you live, move and have your being. Once you behold the face of Glory and learn to hear and speak the Living Word, the steps of the dance of life will reveal themselves to you. They are not set so they can be taught. They are free and natural to the graces of your body and life.
Be grafted onto the Vine of Christ and the Root of Abraham until you know you are a branch of both in one body and one spirit.
I shall anoint you and he shall raise you up. The Holy Spirit will fill you and the Sacred Heart shall beat in your chest.
In all you do, seek to be evergreen, drawing on the good soil of the Holy One to grow strong and true. Follow the greening ways and join the great song of the cosmos and the great dance of the Divine.
Seek the ways set out before you, and live in the fold to which you are called. Blossom and green while spreading the glories of life wherever you go. Taste and see that Life is good. Know that the Holy One is in all things and all things are in God.
Follow the guiding winds, and wander to all the places you are called to go. Be free. Live. Become evergreen in wisdom and truth.