Order of Christ/Sophia

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Light rays from an antique ceiling fixture radiate beyond a nine-person meditation class, through windowpanes and into darkness as headlights of cars on N. Prospect Ave. flash past. It's Thursday night, and legions of souls are following the physical and spiritual lights they hope will get them where they want to go.

Local leaders of the Order of Christ/Sophia, which teaches direct experience of God through Christian mysticism, hope that their new Center of Light in the historic Sanford Kane House at 1841 N. Prospect will attract some passers-by.

Founded simultaneously in Milwaukee and Boston in 1999, the religious movement has gone on to establish Centers of Light in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Kan., New Haven, Conn., Oakland, Calif., and Seattle.

The order blends a belief in reincarnation with New Testament teachings, writings of mystical saints, "Wisdom Teachings of all times," seven sacraments, the Trinity, a belief in Mother Mary as equal in importance to Jesus in redemption, and an emphasis on the Sophia, or the feminine aspect of God, in balance with the masculine.

[TBC: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" - 2 Corinthians 11:13-14.]