Meditation ~ Eros and Christianity

I was reading in the book of Romans today about the life of grace God Has willed for us; deliverance from the confines of the Law of Moses, and freedom instead to know and will the good by sharing in God's own life. We are joined to the death of Jesus, and we share in His resurrection. There is a sense in which He desires to become incarnate again in us. In a real way, we have died and been raised to a new life. The Holy Spirit--God Himself--dwells in our hearts, as in a tabernacle. We are members of the Mystical Body of Christ; this is not just an idea, we are really connected to other Christians. Our relationship with Jesus is nuptial. In some rites, Communion is received under a canopy as in bedroom; Jesus is our bridegroom, and we experience the depths of physical and spiritual communion with Him, a unity to which sexuality points. We are experiencing the unfolding of the drama of salvation, wherein we each must choose our eternal destiny.

That's a lot....

Too often, Christianity is reduced to a social club, a social-welfare organization, or something "tame" and "civilized" which "good" people think about on Sunday. There is nothing easy, tidy, or familiar about the real thing, though. We are summoned to participate in a deep and thrilling mystery and transformation. We literally die in the waters of baptism. We are summoned to commune with God nuptially through the life of grace. We are destined for the great romance of Heaven; our hearts, if they are alive in the Holy Spirit, long for this already.

Christianity is not about being "good," if being good means that we become boring, disconnected from our passions, cookie-cutter, and utterly practical. Too often, religion is presented as a "taming" influence on men. Yet, God is summoning us to be lovers, to return Him love for love. This does involve taming some things about us, sinners that we are. Yet, fundamentally, Christianity is about transforming us for Heaven, a place of perfect love in all of it's forms (eros, too). God is not boring. The gospel is fascinating and mysterious. The deepest love affair between two human beings still falls short of the love affair God has willed for us with Himself. As Christians, we must give witness to the fullness of riches that God shares with us and has destined us for.

To be developed in another post: poetry is the truest thing about us. The highs and lows, the passions, the thrills, the quest. That internal journey is what matters because that's where God meets us.