OrEd-T-22.1-Intro-Salvation, Holy Rela.
1. So long enslaved, we take pity on ourselves. We whom God has joined, have come together, and rejoice we no longer look on sin alone. If two look on sin together, they never see sin in the same place and time. Sin is an individual perception, seen in the other, yet believed to be within himself. And each one seems to make a different error, one the other cannot understand. Brothers, all sin is the same, made by the same, and forgiven in the same way.
2. The holiness of our relationship forgives both of us, undoing the effects of what we believed and saw. And with the effects undone, the need for sin is gone. Only the lonely, who see their brothers as different from themselves, have the need for sin. It is this difference that makes sin seem justified. Sin seems to be seen, but it is not real. An unholy relationship is based on differences, where each one thinks the other has something he doesn't. They come together, each to rob the other and complete himself. They stay until they think there's nothing left to steal, and then move on. And so, they wander through a world of strangers unlike themselves, living perhaps, with their bodies under a common roof and in the same room, yet a world apart. All this would be real if sin were so.
3. A holy relationship starts from a different premise. Each one has looked within and seen no lack. Accepting his completion, he would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. He sees no differences between these selves, for differences are only of the body. Therefore, he looks on nothing he would take. He knows the truth is his own reality. And he stands just under Heaven, close enough not to return to earth. For this relationship has Heaven's holiness, and is as close to home as a relationship so like to Heaven can be.
4. I will think what a holy relationship can teach! Here, belief in differences is undone, and faith is shifted to sameness. Here, the sight of differences is transformed to vision. Reason now, can lead us to the logical conclusion of our union. Our union must extend, as we extended when we joined. Union must reach out beyond itself, as we reached out beyond the body to let ourselves be joined. And now the sameness which we saw, extends, and finally removes all sense of differences. Now, the sameness underneath all differences becomes apparent. This is the golden circle where we recognize the Son of God. For what is born into a holy relationship can never end.
