Jesus in us

The Unitarian theological view of Jesus has always been a little cloudy (these days it is downright opaque-or as spelled and defined in the 1828 Webster' Dictionary: Opake: meaning "Impervious to the rays of light"). I will talk much more (or will let the Boston Unitarians speak for themselves) about Jesus and the moral and spiritual walk. This morning's Sermon, still Thomas Treadwell Stone, presents a view of Jesus from the transcendental wing of Boston Unitarianism. Some exerpts:

Influence and Reception

2 Corinthians 4: 10

That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body

"There is one absolute life...And in this view the Christ, the living, historical man, becomes to us more than any particular word whih he spake, more than the greatest deed which he wrought, more than any measure of suffering which he endured...As we come into vital connection with the Lord, this his life becomes manifest also in our persons; the great fact in which Christianity, from an external form, passes into an internal reality...This real presence of the living God within us is not only the highest discovery of Christianity, but is Christianity itself...the very Life which Jesus contained and revealed is a present reality, not a mere memory...Through the joys and the sorrows, the hopes and the fears, the conflicts and the victories, of this fluctuating state the immortal energy is made manifest in our mortal body...

How does this happen? The second part of the sermon begins: "That this great fact of influence may come to us, however, in the fulness of its practical effects; it is necessary that we obey the corresponding law of reception."

I have in my life read dozens of books about Jesus from just about every theological perspective. I have sought a "ray of light" through my own efforts to know and understand the words, deeds and suffering yet always felt that I was missing something.

The words and deeds of Jesus are still deeply important to me but in a different way. Jesus is vital because he was "one with the Father" and taught that we could be as well. We need only be willing to receive...More from T.T. Stone and the "law of reception" to come.