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You Are The Living Christ
by Genia Pauli Haddon
All the major faiths affirm that we are
made in God's image. Scriptures common to
Christian, Muslim, and Jew specify that both
the male and female are created in the image
of God (Gen. 1:27). We have not really
absorbed that truth until we become able to
name the Holy One in ways that can also
appropriately name ourselves, whichever sex we
are: God-She, Mother, Great Woman, as well as
God-He, Father, and Lord. The primal male
experience of identity is, "I am
different than my source", which
translates to the spiritual insight, "I am not
like God" and leads to an emphasis on the
transcendence of God as the Absolute Other.
This is a valid and profound theology.
However, God-Feminine is not so much an object
of veneration as She is the Universal Subject; not so much a You to relate
to as a Self to be. She manifests in each
moment when you recognize, "I am She: I
am That". Such recognition is not merely
a mental affirmation, but is experienced by
your whole being.
For many people, the word goddess suggests
instead a distantly revered feminine figure,
either an actual woman (as in Hollywood
"sex goddess") or an ideal image of
unattainable femininity, as distant as the
patriarchal God, but of feminine gender. Such
a "goddess" is not God-Feminine as
revealed from the perspective of the Divine
Womb. God-Feminine is loved and revered close
up; "goddesses" are venerated from
afar.
Sometimes the feminine presence of the Holy
Spirit can be strongly felt. One evening, I was moved to open my eyes
and look at the faces of each woman in our
spiritual circle. When my gaze came to rest on
one of them, I declared, "You are the
Christ! You are She, The Living Christ ".
This was a startling perception. I was
familiar with the idea that we "meet
Christ" whenever we respond with
compassion to someone in need, whether by
offering a cup of water to the thirsty or
housing for the homeless. However, I had taken
that as but a lovely figure of speech. Now
here I was, seeing not a needy stranger as the
Christ, but my friend, and not figuratively,
but actually. The words "Christ,
She" came naturally to my lips in that
moment, even though until then I had equated
Christ with the man, Jesus.
Since that time, I have come to understand
such experiences as glimpses of the fact that
we each bear the image and likeness of God as
our true identity. This is who we are, as God
conceives us to be in the Divine Mind and Womb.
If we were to be our real selves, we would
literally incarnate God in our physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual being.
The
Christ is any person who lives out his or her true identity
in the image of God. Jesus was fully and
perfectly Christ because he was perfectly and
fully himself. Exactly as such, he incarnated
God. Churches that refuse to ordain women
priests and ministers on the grounds that
Jesus was male have not yet grasped what this
man witnessed: the Christ is the Divine One
incarnating, not solely in Jesus, but at any
moment and wherever revealed to us in human
form.
Present-day male fascination with the
female breast differs from religious
veneration of God Feminine in the same way that infatuation differs from
reverent awe. Infatuation is obsessional longing for a lost part of
oneself that has become projected onto another
--
whether onto another person or even onto one's
idea of God. Reverent awe arises when we
contemplate some characteristic of God and acknowledge ourselves to be
in likeness, rather than projecting that
attribute solely onto God.
The primal female experience of identity
is, "I am like my source ". The
gestative mode of femininity translates this
awareness to the spiritual insight, "God
is everywhere roundabout me", or "I
live in God". The exertive mode of femininity translates
the awareness, "I am like my source"
into the spiritual insight, "God is the
Birther perpetually bringing forth likenesses
of God-self". Each "likeness"
is a birther in its turn, too, breaking itself
open to reveal God anew. This is sacramental
immanence.
Both the feminine sacramental way and the
phallic transcendent approach to the Holy One
are valid. However, depending on which
orientation predominates, we will experience
either the God-Feminine or God-Masculine
identity of that One in daily spiritual life.
Washing dishes might be experienced either
way. If I am religious in the "phallic
manner", I might sacralize washing dishes
by considering myself to be doing them
"for the Lord" or "to the glory
of God". The task becomes sacred by
consecration to an exterior "other" who is
known aside from the task.
If I am religious in accordance
with the feminine sacramental way, then it is
within the task itself being
done for itself that all at once I may
experience God. Washing this cup or that plate
becomes a sacramental act at the moment I
engage intimately and solely with it. There is
no need to dedicate it to an extrinsic Lord,
for the Slayer-Birther is intrinsically
present. Such a sense of sacramental immanence
results in every moment becoming sacred, every
act liturgical. The distinction between
secular and religious becomes irrelevant.
The sacramental experience of seeing God by
seeing each thing as itself leads to a sense
of the singleness of God, self, and world.
Every object, action, and event, including
myself, is discovered to be a likeness of God,
a birther of the Divine Presence here and now.
The confession of faith issuing from the
sacramental immanence of the exertive womb is
not only "Thou art the Christ" and
"You are She", but also "I am
She". Knowing "You are She" and
"I am She" is the basis of profound
atonement, the essence of the holy, healing
work of Jesus Christ.
AMAZING GRACE
Amazing grace! How sweet the voice
That
named and set me free!
I once was nameless;
Now, rejoice:
I know God -- I am She!
Her grace
is present everywhere.
She's here in you and
me.
Compassion, wisdom, peace, and care
Define
our dignity.
Before God formed me in Her womb,
I was already known.
My life is woven on Her
loom.
By name She calls me home.
By
grace, I
learn to know my strength
By grace, no more to
fear
The Light and Dark, the heights and
depths
Of Love incarnate here.
Amazing grace!
How sweet the voice
That named and set me
free!
I once was nameless; Now, rejoice:
I
know Her -- I am She!
 This
article was
excerpted from
"Uniting Sex, Self
& Spirit" by Genia Pauli Haddon
Info/Order
book
About The
Author
Genia Pauli Haddon,
Ph.D. is a retired minister of the United
Church of Christ and a depth psychotherapist
with degrees in biology, religion, and
counseling. The above was excerpted with
permission from "Uniting Sex, Self
& Spirit" by Genia Pauli Haddon,
©1993, published by Plus Publications Box
265, Suite 936, Scotland, CT 06264.
800-793-0666.
Amazing Grace is by Irene Levine, Genia Pauli
Haddon & Linda DeMarco. ©1988. Reprinted
with permission from "Uniting Sex, Self
& Spirit."
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