Christ in All

When the Bible speaks of ALL, it is neither an option nor a grammatical error open for further interpretation or negotiation. It means everyone.

Christ is not the registered trade name or exclusive franchise of Christianity, just as water is not the sole possession of some singular bottling company. Christ is not confined to one system of faith such as Christianity, just like the ocean is not confined to the Indian or Pacific basins. Just as the ocean has many tributaries yet remains the same source, so is the Christ. Christ is not offended if the wrong name is used or the source is named differently. Doing so could never negate the very source of life and love itself.

Christ has never been confined to Jesus just as the air we breathe has never been confined to one group of people. The Christ has certainly been revealed through Jesus in his union with the Divine, and yet the Christ has existed since the beginning, long before Jesus' incarnation on Earth. The exclusionary claims of Christianity have alienated so many people and other religions, creating in the process a type of religious consumerism where Christianity has the only product, the only features of worth and the only claims of truth. Little have we realised that it is the same Christ across all of humanity - the hero with a thousand different faces - and not just one face with one name trading under one exclusive franchise.

When people seek to live in love, when people seek to honour each other, serve each other, show care and compassion for each other, they become channels through which Christ flows. And flow Christ does, without the need for recognition, plaudits, or fanfare and certainly never with the need to create of a solitary religion seeking its own fortunes with outlandish claims of containment and exclusivity.

Bob Garbett

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