Atonement
My Dear People,
Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- The Collect for Good Friday, the Book of Common Prayer, page 221
In seminary we were required to learn (memorize) a number of "theories" of the atonement. I can't remember how many of them there were. The number sixteen comes to mind.
As my theology professor would have readily acknowledged, no "theory" can do justice to the reality, the reality of what God Almighty accomplished through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Madeleine L'Engle told the story of how, one Holy Week, a young friend said to her, "I cannot cope with the atonement."
L'Engle's answer was that neither could she, if, that is, atonement was understood to be all about crime and punishment, and some forensic maneuver by the Divine.
On the other hand, going back to the true meaning of the word, and, for that matter, to the word's etymology, L'Engle discovered, or rediscovered, something that she could believe in: at-one-ment.
As she explained, "It simply means to be at one with God. Jesus on the cross was so at-one with God that death died there on Golgotha, and was followed by the glorious celebration of the Resurrection."
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May this Holy Week be a time for each of us, in our own ways, to move another step beyond the theory to the reality of God's at-one-ness with us. That at-one-ness was intended for us just as much as it was intended for Jesus: an at-one-ness rooted in a boundless love; a love stronger than any suffering, stronger than death itself; an endless love.
For me; and for you. And for the whole world.
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
