UNION AS CONSENT AND CONNECTION

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,[f] so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23, NRSV)

While nature simply exists as she consents to God in her true imprint and inviolate embodiment of God’s infinite wisdom, humanity is fundamentally different in its existence. Thomas Merton observed, “God leaves us free to be whatever we like.” This existential freedom makes and breaks people. No one gets it right as we are all born with false self; over time, our false self disguises itself as real or true self. The freedom God granted becomes a stumbling block, which is not God’s fault (God is that loving, neither to control nor impose). After enough and constant failures of the false self exerting its freedom (really un-freedom) of isolation and disconnectedness, trying desperately to save oneself, we come to our senses and realize that there is a deeper and timeless yearning for our true self, for connection. The same fundamental freedom peels off of one’s false self and aids in discovering one’s pure virginal self.

The act of consent is less about passive or the reluctant kind. Instead, it is more about the active form of consent enabling us to trust that God is a God of perfector through every situation in life. God is not the author of every thing that happens in life, especially ill wills, harm, and clear evil in this world, but God is the perfector of our faith. The consent includes different life stages and unique circumstances unfolding before us. All in all, the greatest and primary consent revolves around how God created each of us to be. The undeniable best use of our freedom from God is the freedom to consent to God’s original design of our lives. A big yes to how God created each one of us is a BIG YES to God the Creator. Ultimately, we use the freedom God gives us to consent and receive freedom to live each of our lives which drives us back to God.

The vision of our sanctification Jesus prayed for does not end with our consent. It moves us toward profound realization and consciousness of connection. Christ in God, God in Christ, I in God, God in me, I in Christ, Christ in me, Christ in all, all in Christ, God in all, all in God, I in all, all in me. The connection Jesus prayed for is the seeing, believing, and living that God, Christ, the world, and I are one. I do not know how this is possible except to say “Amen” to Jesus’ prayer. Words fail me to describe, but I tantalizingly and fleetingly know, experientially, this to be true.

As part of our Gapyeong hospitality, depending on the group, I sometimes facilitate certain portions of our time going through different exercises. We had three women friends in their early 40s who have known each other since college and their husbands come over for the weekend (including two preteenagers and a teenager). After breakfast, we huddled around an outdoor table adjacent to the house. I had them do three quick exercises in less than ten minutes: listen to the sound of nature, gaze into the sky, and fix their eyes on one nature scene (as big as a distant mountain or a small shrub on the ground). All three exercises were done while keeping silent. As it is hauntingly quiet here, one can hear the sound of nature as pristine as one can listen to: all kinds of birds, wind, occasional chicken cooing, stream flowing, and even insects sans cars. (Speaking of which, the deafening sound of the frogs as soon as the sun skips over the mountain is both numbing and therapeutic.) The sky was gorgeous with fast morphing cumulous clouds both near and far. Some observed the far mountain while others observed seemingly insignificant plants or shrubs around the house.

We spent the next two hours sharing what we heard and saw. I did not instruct them to search their hearts as they engaged in the exercises. I asked them to listen and see. What an amazing connection they effortlessly made between nature and our souls! By paying attention to nature, we each received distilled grace-filled messages from within which means to say from God. As I participated in the exercises, one invitation floated to the surface: live a life of un-striving. As I listened and watched the sky and a vulnerable weed flower, I realized that their existence was striving free. They existed as what God created them to be. In those two brief hours of observing, sharing, and holding space for one another, we experienced oneness with nature, our true self, and God.

Thus, our sanctification moves from consenting to God what God has willed long before our presence here on earth in discovering our true self to seeing our distinct true self connected to everything else God created (all humanity, nature, and then the cosmos) and foremostly God including the Triune God. Thus, my sanctification is not all about me in my relationship with God only but benefits EVERYTHING because I am part of ALL.

It is appropriate that I end with Richard Rohr who expounds on the connection well.

“To be a person of faith means we see things—people, animals, plants, the earth—as inherently connected to God, connected to ourselves, and therefore, absolutely worthy of love and dignity. That’s what Jesus is praying for: that we could see things in their unity, in their connectedness.”

“I will go so far as to say that the more we can connect, the more of a saint we are, The less we can connect, the less transformed we are. If we can’t connect with people of other religions, classes, or races, with our “enemies” or with those who are suffering, we’re not very converted. Truly transformed individuals are capable of a universal recognition. They see that everything is one.”