Imagine yourself inside of a glorious dining room.
It has high ceilings filled with beautiful lights,
Immaculately constructed walls and doorways.
There in the middle of the room envision a table,
And at it sits Christ.
It may assume any image you choose.
A traditional depiction of Christ is Jesus or perhaps is something else.
This presence is entirely welcoming.
This presence is entirely loving.
This presence is here to help show you the way.
As you again glance at the table,
You begin to see that it has no clear beginning or end.
It stretches longer than your eyes can see on either side.
This Christ presence invites you to sit at this table.
You look at this Christ presence and ask,
Why?
Perhaps there is a part of you that wonders if you are worthy to sit at the table of someone so exalted.
The presence answers you,
We make room for everybody.
As this presence invites you to sit once again,
If you feel so comfortable,
Sit.
It is now safe to ask this presence anything you'd like.
Perhaps you ask,
What is your relationship with me?
Or,
How do I have greater faith?
Or how can I truly forgive someone?
Or how do I enter the kingdom of heaven?
This Christ presence may answer you with words or with a feeling of intuition,
Or with an image or a series of images.
At this time,
This presence is so grateful that you joined its table.
By sitting at this table,
You have accepted your place among the great spiritual teachers and prophets of the ages,
The best of whom never saw themselves as better or more exalted as anyone,
But in fact taught that you are as good and can be as exalted as they are.
Because of this realization,
This Christ presence now wants you to follow him outside.
Follow this presence outside,
And the setting is beautiful.
It is majestic,
Pristine.
Everything outside is so clearly part of one life,
One essence,
One unity.
Everything is filled with vitality and animated by a Holy Spirit.
There is a lake at the center of this scene,
And you look there and this Christ presence is waiting for you.
This presence asks you to enter the water,
This water which is symbolic of pure spirit,
All wisdom,
All knowing,
Perfect spiritual clarity.
If you feel comfortable,
Enter the water.
How does it feel?
Does it feel still,
Or is there a flow?
Ernest Holmes said,
But water alone cannot make us completely clear or whole.
We must be born of the Spirit,
For that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
This presence asks to take your hand and gently dips your entire body and head into this lake.
All you see is dark,
And yet,
Under this water it is like your eyes are being opened for the first time.
There is no image,
But all of a sudden,
Even with your eyes closed,
There is a rush of pure light so bright that you would close your eyes again if you could.
A rush of light that seems to expand your vision of light from your eyeballs to the center of your forehead to the top of your head,
As if your very vision is expanding.
You actually have to open your eyes because the light is so bright and when you do it is clear that your head has risen back above the water.
All is is as it was,
But you still see this pure light.
You see with this pure,
Perfect light.
All is illuminated by this light.
Some more words from Ernest Holmes.
You catch a silhouette of a dove flying above,
Symbolizing the flight of your own soul to a heavenly realm where you will always be connected on earth.
This connection opens you up to hear the voice of God.
You are my child,
The beloved,
My favor rests on you.
Hear that.
You are my child,
The beloved,
My favor rests on you.
Hear that.
Feel that.
You are my child,
The beloved,
My favor rests on you.
The Catholic teacher Henry Nowen channeled this voice this way.
I have called you by name from the very beginning.
You are mine and I am yours.
You are my beloved,
On you my favor rests.
I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother's womb.
I have carved you in the palm of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace.
I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child.
I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step.
Wherever you go,
I go with you and wherever you rest,
I keep watch.
I will give you food that will satisfy all your hunger and drink that will quench your thirst.
I will not hide my face from you.
You know me as your own,
As I know you as my own.
You belong to me.
I am your father,
Your mother,
Your brother,
Your sister,
Your lover,
And your spouse,
Yes even your child.
Wherever you are,
I will be.
Nothing will separate us.
We are one.
With that,
You exit the water and the Christ Presence is no longer there.
You realize immediately that it is not because this Presence is absent,
But because it is now a part of you.
Although the voice of God is no longer being spoken,
It is still being heard in the cells of your being,
In the chords of your heart.
Now one shares,
Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the beloved,
You will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply.
It is like discovering a well in the desert.
Once you have touched wet ground,
You want to dig deeper.
Knowing this Christ Presence with you is awakening.
Knowing this voice is always speaking to you is living in the kingdom of heaven.
And now,
Returning to the awareness of where you are right now.
You are in a way reborn.
Ready to now choose how you will live with the knowledge of this Christ Presence with you,
And the presence of this voice always speaking to you,
If you would listen.
