Monday, December 2, 2013

1st Advent 2012, Tree of Life

1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

Roland Tiller
And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.


1st Advent
December 2, 2012
Luke 21: 25-36

Yggdrasil, Tree of Life
Although we are approaching the depth of northern midwinter, Christ, oddly perhaps for us in the north, speaks of the coming spring, and the fig tree bursting into leaf. The fig tree in His time was the tree, like the bodhi tree, which represented a broader, enlightened awareness.

This reading images for us the content of a higher awareness: the living Son of Man, radiant and powerful, coming toward us in the realm of the clouds, the biosphere, the realm of life.

This year has been seen as a year in which a shift of awareness is anticipated. There are signs…signs that human beings are moving into an anxious awareness of the wholeness of the living earth, into an heart awareness that humankind is all one family; signs that the kingdom of God is arising in human hearts. The angels are watching closely.

Denise Levertov says

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
…to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.[1]


We are urged to pay attention, to stand, awake and at the ready. For He who is the living Spirit of the Earth is drawing near.







[1] “Witness”, by Denise Levertov in Selected Poems