The Secret Garden of the Heart: Inklings of the New Christianity

By Michael J. Langlais

A New Christianity is beginning to dawn. After roughly two thousand years, the old forms of the faith have proven themselves inadequate for meeting the deeper spiritual needs of humanity. There is, however, a New Christianity dawning whose content is the original revelation brought by Jesus.The emergence of the new self-realized being represents the archetypal journey from darkness to light, and it is this purely inner spiritual change of being that is at the root of the Master's teachings. What Jesus revealed was not a doctrine, dogma, or creed, but the experience of coming into the light of divine consciousness, and the realization in the infinite individual of the divine Presence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael J. Langlais
• Release date: May 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201885540

Book preview

THE SECRET GARDEN

OF THE HEART

Inklings of the New Christianity

Michael J. Langlais

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowedgments

Introduction

The Christian a Sign

On Spiritual Growth

By My Spirit

Practicing the Presence

Listen! Behold

You Must Change Your Life

A Sower Went Out to Sow

Abiding

Watch and Pray

A Spiritual Practice

Afterword

Appendix: The Lord is Your Everlasting Life

About the Author

The Secret Garden of the Heart

Copyright© 2020 Michael J. Langlais

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, by photography, or any other means, by broadcast or transmission, by translation into any kind of language, nor by recording electronically or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author.

Original cover artwork, Resurrection, by Rebecca Langlais.

Design by Sue Stein

To Mary

Beloved spouse, companion and friend,

without whose daily support, care, and encouragement,

this book would never have come to be

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to all my teachers, especially Maurice Nicoll and Jacques Ellul, who over the many years of my spiritual journey, have provided light upon the path. I also wish to say thank you to the members of my congregation at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for whom the messages making up this book were originally delivered. If you should ever meet one of them, you will know they are a disciple of the Living Jesus by the love they have for others.

Special heartfelt thanks to my spouse, Mary. She helped me believe that putting my scattered writings into book form was possible. Her continual support, encouragement and reassurance helped me to believe in myself as an author with something worthwhile to say. Companions now for nearly fifty years, her kind and cheerful disposition and unconditional love have provided a peaceful and nurturing home wherever we have travelled together over these many years. More than she knows, Mary is my constant source of strength and meaning in life, for she is the embodiment of love, and love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Her love is my greatest treasure in life, greater even than faith and hope.

I am pleased to be able to share with you a little sampling of the artwork of our daughter, Rebecca Langlais. Her piece entitled Resurrection, part of a larger abstract work, graces the cover of this book. Much of her artwork beautifies our home and has brought us much enjoyment and spiritual edification over the years. Thank you, Becca!

Many thanks to my friend and spiritual brother Dan Bridge for the many hours of edifying conversation, and for sharing his deep understanding of spiritual things. Dan helped me to see my work through another set of eyes. His contribution to this project reminds me of the proverbial saying, As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend (Proverbs 27:17).

My hearty thanks to Sue Stein (suesteinauthor.com) for her expert formatting and design skills. Without her thought-full and adept handling of my manuscript the book you hold in your hands would never have taken proper shape. Sue is a true professional in every sense of the word. Thank you, Sue, for helping this project bear fruit.

INTRODUCTION

A New Christianity is beginning to dawn. After roughly two thousand years, the old forms of the faith have proven themselves inadequate for meeting the deeper spiritual needs of humanity. In fact, the old forms of creeds, doctrines, and traditions have overall proven detrimental, even harmful, to the spiritual growth of millions of their followers. Although the expressions of the Christian faith have clothed themselves in a multitude of local forms and denominational and creedal distinctives, the one thing they have all shared, and that which has finally proven to be their undoing, is an outward, formal, and conceptual stress on beliefs. The impulse to formalize the teachings of Jesus arose very early in the progress of the faith, and is a fascinating and very important study in its own right. This progressive development toward formal creedalism and dogmatism long ago reached its apogee in medievalism, and has now entered its period of senescence. Although many churches continue to proclaim their message under the banner of historical Christianity, their moribund spirit cannot be masked by the mere emotionalism and enthusiasm that characterizes the ones still showing signs of life. The churches as a whole are aging, and the new generations of spiritual seekers are not coming in. Historical Christianity is in a steep decline which is beginning more and more to look like a death spiral.

There is, however, a New Christianity dawning whose content is the original revelation brought by Jesus. In this sense it is not new, but ancient. What Jesus revealed was the essence of the perennial teaching found at the heart of all the world’s spiritual traditions. The cross is the quintessential symbol of spiritual transformation—death, resurrection and transfiguration. The emergence of the new self-realized being represents the archetypal journey from darkness to light, and it is this purely inner spiritual change of being that is at the root of the Master’s teachings. What Jesus revealed was not a doctrine, dogma, or creed, but the experience of coming into the light of divine consciousness, and the realization in the infinite individual of the divine Presence.

At present, the New Christianity occupies the middle ground between two ages. The age now passing away is the age of creedalism and dogmatism, the age of belief. The age now dawning is the age of deepening spiritual experience and the realization of the oneness of all beings in the divine nature. This movement of the Spirit signals an Awakening unlike anything that has passed by that name before. The seeds for this global Awakening were planted by the world’s spiritual masters and teachers, and each has complemented the other in the inexorable movement of humanity toward the final Realization and remembering of Being. This final stage of spiritual growth will lay the proper foundation for the continuance of the infinite task of the deepening of human life into the Life of the transcendent Godhead. In this regard the light of the Living Christ is especially bright. The embodied enlightenment of Christ mind in the species has brought us to the brink of a new way of being human. What follows are just fragments, intimations, inklings of this New Way, which is in truth the Ancient Way, discovered and forgotten over and again. Now we can begin to choose with conscious intention to close the circle of spiritual realization.  

The audience for these writings will, I hope, include those in the old way who are seeking for something to carry them beyond the old forms, those who have left the old way in frustration and despair over the spiritual desolation of dead forms of religion, and those who have begun to awaken to the new possibilities revealed in the recovery of the essential teachings of the Living Jesus. The message is universal and open to anyone anywhere, regardless of religious, cultural, or social background. Until now the revelation brought by Jesus has been clothed in forms that have separated and divided the human family. Men have turned it to their own selfish purposes and made it the exclusive property of sects called churches. No longer confined to the ghettos of human self-interest, the message of the Christ revelation is dawning in the inner temple of the human heart. The Living Jesus dwells in the Secret Garden of the Heart, and all may find therein the Light and Love from which all created forms emerged in the beginning. In the Paradise of the Heart there is perfect peace, joy, and completion. There, in that sacred place within, waiting to receive us lies Home. Truly, the kingdom of God is within you.

The writings that follow were sent out as daily email messages over a period of several months. As a result, they do not comprise one continuous narrative, nor do they follow a thematic plan from beginning to end. They are more of the nature of fragments or intimations of a new approach to the original teachings of Jesus. As such, they are but inklings of the New Christianity. In order to make them understandable to those who have been raised in any of the sectarian churches, much of the traditional language of formal religion has been retained. Perhaps the greatest concession in this regard has been the retention of the dualist perspective of good and evil. In truth, there is One Power, and that Power is God.

THE CHRISTIAN A SIGN

You are the salt of the earth

—Matthew 5:13

You are the light of the world

—Matthew 5:14

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves

—Matthew 10:16

One of the most difficult challenges faced by the Christian is finding her or his rightful place in the world. We know that it is God’s will that we be in the world. We don’t try to escape it, nor could we really, even if we wanted to. But it is true that many Christians indulge in escapist strategies to avoid the hard challenges presented by life. They just kind of look the other way, and as a result become part of that beleaguered sort that are so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.  It’s understandable really, and we shouldn’t judge them for wanting complete separation from the undesirable things of the world. It’s an effective and ameliorating attitude for those who feel themselves overwhelmed by the challenges of living as a Christian in a world of darkness. But it does take them out of the game, and we know that it is God’s will that we be in the game of life and engage it according to our calling in Christ Jesus. If the Christian buries his head in the sand, how can he be an effective witness of Jesus Christ in the world? Clearly, escapism does not fulfill the Christian’s vocation in the world.

Escapism is one strategy employed by Christians as they try to navigate the world. Another one used by very many Christians accords with the old saying, If you can’t beat ‘em, join ’em. These Christians take seriously God’s command to be in the world, and to engage the world in faith according to the divine revelation of Christ in Holy Scripture. But their approach is to attempt to sacralize the world. They have high hopes of appropriating the world structures of power and culture for the kingdom of God. They view themselves as the leaven that will leaven the whole lump of secular life, baking it into holy and sacrificial bread for the Lord. They certainly know who the prince of this world is (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2), so before they have dealings with the devil, they cover the god of this world in gilt, and dress him in white. In their own way, like the escapist, they engage in magical thinking, believing that somehow they can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. By participating in the world’s institutions and methods, such Christians invariably get conscripted by the world and transformed by the elemental spirits of the world into the image of the god of the world. The world changes them, instead of them changing the world. In fact, they do a great service to the god of this world by placing God’s imprimatur, the divine seal of approval, so to speak, on the world’s institutions and methods of operation. Full of zeal and enthusiasm, and with great ideas and opinions about how they are going to make the world a better place, they wind up in that great stewpot of humanity being cooked to appease the voracious appetite of the evil one. By thinking and acting like a worldling, they become one, and all too often their fate is the same.

So if neither escapism (not in nor of the world), or joining through participation in worldly institutions and methods (in and of the world), fulfills the vocation of the Christian, there must be another way, a third way, and we find evidence of this in the words of Jesus. This third way, which is God’s way, is to be in the world, but not of it (Matthew 6:4; John 15:19, 17:16, 18:36; Colossians 3:2; James 4:4; 1 John 5:19). While the phrase be in the world but not of it does not appear verbatim in scripture, it is the Bible’s clear teaching. When Jesus prayed to the Father for his followers, he said, they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world (John 17:14-16). So although bodily located in the world, the Christian is not of the same spirit as the world. It is a matter of calling and allegiance. The world’s god is mammon, which is of the spirit of its master, the prince of evil. The Christian is in the world but does not receive the spirit of the world: Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). The true Christian is in the world, but not of the world. They do not think and act like a worldling. They choose freedom over fate, divine destiny over world judgment.

So the position of the true Christian is not "in nor of the world (escapism), or in and of the world (the quasi-worldling). The Christian’s proper relationship to the world is in but not of" the world. The question then becomes, what exactly is the Christian to be and do while in the world? How does the Christian faithfully fulfill her or his calling in a world that is in many ways both hostile and dangerous to the true follower of the Living Christ?

The answer from the Lord Jesus is that his true follower is to be a sign in and to the world (Matthew 12:39; Luke 11:30; Acts 4:16). The word sign in the New Testament is σημεῖον(sēmeîon), and it means that by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others and is known. The Christian is a sign, token, or mark by which the world’s people recognize that something not of this world is present. And in the very person of the Christian as a sign, by all their words and actions, they reveal the divine Presence of God. The Christian as a sign in and to the world is the embodiment of the gospel. The Christian is a little Christ for others. As such, the Christian in this world is recognizable by the love that is demonstrated for others (John 13:35; 1 John 2:5, 4:8). Sadly, many Christians are almost totally unrecognizable by the sign of Love (1 John 4:8, 16). In fact, many who self-identify as Christians appear in and to the world as anti-signs. Of these John said, If anyone says, ‘I love God’’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20). Love is the chief sign of the true Christian. If you did not tell someone that you were a Christian, would they know by the love you have for them and others, that you are a follower of the King of Love?

The biblical position of the Christian in relation to the world is to be neither escapist nor conformist. We must fulfill our calling in the world and not try to escape it, but neither are we to conform ourselves to the world’s institutions and methods as we go about fulfilling our duty to God and the world. So the biblical position of the true Christian is to be in the world but not of it (Matthew 6:4; John 15:19, 17:16, 18:36; Colossians 3:2; James 4:4; 1 John 5:19).

Jesus tells us that our duty as his followers is to be a sign, both in and to the world. The sign of the Christian in and to the world says the Master, is threefold: the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13), the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), and a sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16).

The Master said, "You are the salt of