Atonement is our topic for this Sunday and one that brings with it a variety of definitions. The first definition in the dictionary is: “Atonement (noun) Reparation for a wrong or injury.” The second is “Christian theology – The reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ.” I’m not about to proclaim that either one is entirely right or wrong.
What I would like to pose is to look at the word and its meaning in perhaps a new and different light than the above definitions. Take a look at the word itself and instead of pronouncing it “a-tone-ment”, try this on for size: “at-one-ment.” Jesus made the proclamation, “I and the Father are One.” Throughout the scriptures Jesus spoke and taught from the “Christ consciousness” which he had attained – not from the man called Jesus. Christ was not Jesus’ last name, but it is a universal consciousness of oneness. To quote Richard Rohr, “In Jesus Christ, God’s own broad, deep, and all-inclusive worldview is made available to us. That might be the whole point of the Gospels. You have to trust the messenger before you can trust the message, and that seems to be the Jesus Christ strategy. Too often, we have substituted the messenger for the message.”
April Moncrieff in “The Principles of New Thought” writes: “It is not the individual Jesus who re-established man in right relationship with his Creator but rather, the work of the universal Christ Principle that indwelt him and indeed, dwells within us all. Here is where the process of reconciliation – atonement – takes place. Atonement re-establishes our conscious awareness of our unity with Source which is now, and forever has been.” Go within today to feel and accept your Oneness with all.
Say with me: “Today I sink into the acceptance of the Christ consciousness deep within me. I no longer feel alienated or separate but made whole in my union with all. And it is so.”
—Rev. Gay Beauregard, Alpine Church of Spiritual Living
