I am.

Mission Hills Christian Church

Text

John 14:15-21 MSG with non-binary pronouns for The Spirit

15-17 If you love me, you will guard my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. They are the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because the world neither sees them nor knows them. You know them because they abide with you, and they will be in you.

18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive, and you’re about to come alive. At that moment, you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

21 “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and make myself plain to them.”

Questions

If Jesus is not talking about “religion” or “relationship,” but Reality, How does his non-dual invitation of abiding love to his disciples differ from conventional Christianity today? How might this perspective change Christian life? to his disciples differ from conventional Christianity today, and how might this perspective change Christian life?

Jesus referenced “the world” (kósmos) as “not seeing” The Spirit’s abiding love not referring to religious identity but a way of being, living, and loving. Why might this distinction be important?

How is embracing Jesus’ non-dual seeing difficult in modern life?

How might we see the Spirit’s abiding love in us?

Read

The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality

The Good Wine by Bruno Barnhart

Listen