Raymond Klassen – Ideals and Identities

You (Thou) and I belong to the Kingdom of God. 
Thou and I are very different. 
Thou and I share much that is the same, 
Thou and I may be friends, acquaintances, or even enemies. 

I submit myself to you, especially Thou within you. 
I vow to live with Thou in peace, as Christ crucified. 
The world will tell us that we fall under the spell of modernity and government, 
And that we somehow need to be justified. 

Yet, I submit to you radically, in devotion, and within God’s kingdom. 
For there is no power that can usurp God’s presence, 
And there is no distraction that forces God to depart; 
But be invited to be reformed and refined in a community of devotion 

To the Center of all life, and to the conquering of death… together. 
  
‘Those that do not allow their spirits to be beaten down and upset by dryness and helplessness, but who let God lead them peacefully through the wilderness, and desire no other support or guidance than that of pure faith and trust in God alone, will be brought to the Promised Land. They will taste the peace and joy of union with God. They will, without “seeing,” have a habitual, comforting, obscure, and mysterious awareness of their God as present and acting in all the events of life.’ (Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation)