Brian Baker posted a piece from bishop elect Thew Forrester from the diocese of Northern Michigan.  There is organized opposition to confirming him as a bishop because of his ties with Zen Buddhists — I guess they think he doesn’t have a strong enough sense of who Jesus is.  So I wanted to excerpt a bit from the piece Brian posted (“Our Lives in Christ” by Thew).  Judge for yourselves.  And if you want to see the whole thing after reading the excerpt, click here.

Because Jesus receives everything and gratefully returns everything – his heart, his soul, his mind, his strength –   he is empty of everything except the Presence of God. This is a Christology of utterkenosis. Jesus in his Transfiguration is fully revealed as he always is – the Christ, empty of everything but the Spirit. We, as disciples, are called to the same life of transfiguration, so that through and through, in the end, it is only Christ who lives in us and we are dead to all else. This transfiguration, I believe, is our baptismal life: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In the end, we come face-to-face with God and know that it is no longer “I,” but God who lives in me holding us forever as one-in-Christ, Life-giving salvation.