What is the true church?

I have been so blessed to witness many spiritual communities, from the holy city of 5000 Temples to Krishna in Vrindavan, to the secluded Theravaden Buddhist Monastery in Devon or the beautiful peaceful place of meditation and contemplation in southern France, Plum Village, the home of Thich Nat Hahn.  I have sat in satsang many times with the beloved Sangha of Mooji in order to discover and ‘win back’ my True Self in the heart of God, in the depth of being.  Praying in the Christ Temple.  

I will never forget the warmth and humility of my Muslim sister who showed me how to prostrate and pray at the mosque in Exeter.  The love in her eyes and the sense of devotion was so strong and beautiful and humbling.  What is the ‘true church’ or true temple of God?  

I have also been an active and enthusiastic part of a Christian church that is a loving community with genuine disciples of Jesus, genuine seekers of truth and profound transformative love.  A community rooted in the love and worship of God, in the name of Jesus Christ.  I love the worship, the people, the faith in God and love that thrives there in the hearts of the church family.  I love and deeply respect all this even though i have struggled with many aspects of how the church has evolved over the years.  I struggle with tribal religious identity.  I do feel that much of the original transmission of Jesus has been lost or covered over throughout the last 2000 years.  It is difficult to interpret accurately what someone says or does even within a short space of time  – let alone 40 or 100 or 2000 years later!  

Of course I do hear and know that it matters deeply to people of faith that the scriptures are the word of God and hold potential for revelation absolutely.  Much of the bible for instance comes alive to me in a way now that is deeply transformative, exciting and profound.  It never used to appear like that to me but something here in my heart has shifted and somehow I can read the words with new eyes – it is a revelation!  In a way I could say I really turned to the Christ light of truth because of the power of satsang and the love of Jesus I see in Mooji and the Sangha.  How can there be separation from God?  Doesn’t Jesus call us to unity in spirit?    

But much of the mystical and more contemplative aspects of Jesus himself are covered over, or have not been emphasised.  The desert fathers and mothers lived in this way with direct experience of God within.  I am convinced that Jesus would again challenge the modern pharisees and church leaders of today if he were here, as he did back then.  And he is here!  His living spirit is alive.  

Also I have been surprised these days that there is much more open enquiry into a deeper awareness of the eternal Christ, the universal Christ, and a much broader willingness to look at people of other faiths in friendliness, with compassion and understanding that these people actually do love God also.  Atheists or humanists or agnostics or scientists who contribute hugely to society with intelligence and insight often value highly love and peace and compassion and freedom also.  However I get the sense that within the church today it is often presumed that ‘they’ do not have the correct path perhaps?  Is this really true?   Are many Christians today sort of ‘tolerating’ the religious other, but secretly are certain (because of conditioning mostly, or some would say of course what is written in scripture) that without accepting Jesus as Lord and saviour of all humanity it really is unlikely that these souls will be a part of that big harvest?  After all heaven is reserved for Christians only isn’t it?  This seems a very tricky area to look at, tentatively.  I really do not mean to offend anyone – I am just enquiring into what is really true about all this?  – I do not claim as a ‘person’ to have all the answers at all either!  Not at all.  

Did Jesus ‘tolerate’ people  – or love them wholeheartedly?  What does ‘The Good Samaritan’ story tell us about this?  Did he even see with eyes of ‘them and us’?  With eyes that see a divided world?  Or did he see with eyes of unity?  That is oneness, no division, no separation?  

With love and respect to the message of the Christian church today which of course has diversified hugely and taken two thousand years to evolve, against a background of unchanging timeless awareness.  There does seem to have been an emphasis on a wrathful God who has been angry at the sins of man.  Jesus was sent, as is widely understand, to bear the brunt of this wrath, even to descend temporarily to hell and intense suffering in order to be a ransom for our sin.  In order to save us and redeem us and forgive us through his love.  The atonement theory.

Please forgive me if this is challenging.  I do not mean to offend anyone, but what about those who do not have allegiance to Jesus?  But perhaps have allegiance to love and truth and reality and the divine source of all life perhaps called by another name?  Is it only through ‘belief’ in Jesus that heavenly realms can be ensured?  Can it really be true that those people who do not accept Jesus as their Lord and saviour but perhaps love God (Brahmin) through Krishna or Lord Ram, as their family have taught them, or perhaps have been raised  Buddhist or Sikh, or Muslim, will ‘they’ suffer ‘hell’ eternally, punished by God?   Really?  What to do about this? Or do we simply say – ‘I don’t understand it but God does – so that is alright’

Or is it possible that the universal essence of truth, of reality is the substratem of all life?  Is it possible that we are all consciousness, the spirit of God itself, manifesting in diverse ways and finding so many paths up the mountain?  Is it possible that we all find our unique way back to source, discovering our true nature as consciousness itself?  Returning home.  Perhaps already home and not searching at all but naturally happy and free and at peace.  

 These long held beliefs within the Christian faith are questioned today by many progressive, liberal Christians.  Rob Bell explores this view of a wrathful angry punitive God as opposed to a loving creator, inclusive and far beyond our limited understanding  – rather beautifully I feel in his book.  ‘Love wins’  I think many Christians are questioning more openly these days  – is this aspect of belief really the true message from God?  Is it helping to bring about peace in this world as one humanity?   Isn’t God loving and compassionate and aren’t we all his beloved children?  People are now speaking perhaps more of the original blessing rather than the original sin.  

    There is no criticism here in my heart  – not at all – just an enquiry, an exploration into this.   This world is so diverse and I find it very inspiring when people like Brian Maclaren and Richard Rohr regard other faiths with respect and inclusion and love.  People are beginning to look with fresh Christ like eyes in our world today.  I have just received my new copy of Richard Rohr’s UNIVERSAL CHRIST.  This is ground breaking and illuminating reading.   I recommend it!  

What really is the truth here?   After all Christ says ‘I am the truth’ doesn’t he?

This is an edge that fascinates me and I do wish to stop and enquire gently and with love here and to pray that the wisdom and light of God will be with us here, right in this place. I pray for clarity, understanding and a deeper truth to emerge as we explore together now for I do feel something wants to be explored, to be investigated. Why? Because something here in this heart truly loves the people of all the different faiths and spiritual traditions (and none) and deeply values mystical depth that can only be explored when we look a little deeper.  It is easy to superficially glance at the outer surface of religious practice and doctrine and make fast and inaccurate conclusions – especially if we have been taught to fear and distrust any religion other than our own.  My sense is that all religions come originally from the source, but also can get corrupted and distorted in time.  Firstly it is so easy to make assumptions without really investigating more deeply.  (Many are taught not to even begin to look in this direction – it is not encouraged and even thought of as dangerous perhaps?)  Thankfully because I was not conditioned to fear other faiths – I have always felt confident to enquire and look with an open mind but also with a discerning heart.  

If we for a moment took a superficial glance at Christianity, as if I were an alien coming to earth for the first time not knowing anything about it – I might see the surface of Christianity and say ‘they worship a dead guy on a cross who was tortured and killed.  They must be really into punishment and death!’  Thankfully this is only a surface shallow understanding.  We know there is much more to it than that!  But how easy it is to make fast conclusions and to make judgements that are perhaps not based in truth at all?  

Today we hear about a God that really is love first and foremost and that we are beloved sons and daughters of this compassionate God.  This also seems much more the kind of God that Christ points to and embodies also.  

But my point is that it is so easy to miss the deeper significance, beauty, depth, wisdom and SOURCE of all the varying and diverse faiths or belief systems, including aethism and scientific understanding.  As we see today many intelligent, inspirational people absolutely reject religion altogether  – especially as it is often the root and reason for much violence and bloodshed in our world!  Not only do some simply say – ‘I don’t believe this religion in the way it is presented at all!’  They also can be the most loving and peaceful and kind compassionate people!  There are also many devout followers of all faiths who of course become what they love and somehow radiate a purity of heart and a depth of spirit that is extraordinary.  Absolutely.  

I have been in satsang (sanskrit word for ‘association with truth’) for many years with Satyananda and more recently in the last 6 or so years with Mooji.  This has actually felt like a ‘true church’ or the ‘body of Christ’ to me also, the living embodiment of love, of grace, of truth and of peace where truly everyone is welcome, no matter what faith or none.  Because of the powerful pointing to the timeless, to the limitless spaciousness that we are.  Because the perishable nature of all that is changing is seen.  Everything is seen as coming and going:  thoughts, feelings, people, objects, even our own psychological identity as some imagined separate self (ego).  This is all seen from a deeper witnessing position.  Even this witnessing position is itself witnessed from a silence within, from the imperishable absolute awareness.  (beyond comprehension of such things)

This is expressed and pointed to SO BEAUTIFULLY by beloved Mooji.  

  That is our true position, or our True Self we could say – and actually to realise that IS release and relief immediately from the small tight personal identity as a person (identified only with body or ‘flesh’ and mind, memory, attachments and intentions and projections in the mind) that we have for so long seen as ‘me’.  Suddenly the pressure to be someone or prove oneself diminishes, we are ‘unbound’ and released from the grip of false identity with its attachments, ‘sin’ or sense of separation and personal desires.  

Isn’t this the same mechanism of release as is described in Romans 7 verse 5?   

‘For when we were in the realm of the flesh,  the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. ⁶ But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit,’  

is this not ‘true church’?  

You see – for me the bible comes alive in this through the power of the truth revealed in Satsang.  Alleluia!  

It is the same universal truth, we are all this truth in essence, for it is life, if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.  

Thank you so much for listening