Holy Nights, 2015 - 16, Appearance and Illusion

Holy Nights

December 27, 2015

Luke 4: 1 – 14

And Jesus left the Jordan valley, his soul filled with the Holy Spirit. And he followed the guidance of the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert. There he remained for forty days, during which he had to withstand the temptation by the Adversary.

Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Wikimedia

During this time he took no food at all, and when the days came to an end he felt hunger. Then the Adversary said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone so that it becomes bread.’  But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live by bread alone.’

And the Adversary led him up, showed him all the realms of the world in a single moment, and said to him, ‘I will give you power over everything that you see, the earthly and even the forces beyond the earthly. For the power belongs to me, and I can give it to whom I will. If you will kneel in worship of me, the whole world shall be yours.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Let all your worship be for the divine Lord, let your service be for Him alone.’

Then he removed him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it says in the scriptures that HE has commanded his angels to protect you and bear you up on their hands, so that not even your foot shall strike against a stone.’ But Jesus answered him, 

‘Yet it also says: You shall not make your heavenly Lord become a servant of your arbitrary wishes.’

And when the Adversary had put him through all temptation, he departed from him to bide his time. And Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, returned to Galilee.*

Holy Nights

December 27, 2015

Luke 4: 1 – 18

This season of the year is filled with highs and lows. There is joy and excitement, and there is irritation and sadness. What was so promising can be followed by disappointment.

The Baptism, Ninetta Sombart

Before this incident in the reading, there is the spiritual high point of Jesus’

Baptism, when the heavens open and the Spirit of Love descends into him. Yet this is followed immediately by the approach of the Adversary. The main thrust of all the temptations is for the soul to give more weight and value to the earthly than to a proper relationship to the divine. This is a universal temptation, one that all human beings face. And all three temptations are based on an illusion, the illusion that the worldly adversarial forces can offer us more than can God. By maintaining the strength of his relationship to the Father, Christ could later incorporate this experience of human temptation in his universal prayer to the Father: Lead us not into temptation. One could expand this line of the prayer as follows:

The Temptation, William Blake

You do not allow the tempter to work in us beyond the capacity of our strength. For in your being, Father, no temptation can survive, since the tempter is but appearance and illusion….**

This is the key for us: to see through the illusory nature of whatever tempts us to put our faith and trust in worldly power and worldly goods. We are encouraged instead to direct our souls, our clear thinking, the warmth of our feeling, the devotion of our will toward the guidance of the Father of All and toward the angel he gave each of us to guard us.

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*from The New Testatment, a rendering by Jon Madsen. To purchase, go to Steinerbooks.com or Amazon.com 

** from The Esoteric Lord’s Prayer, Rudolf Steiner.

Christmas Day 2015, Peace Be

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

Now is proclaimed the end of the entire gospel according to John in the 21st chapter:

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”. Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written.

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

There is a story* about a hermit in the rugged mountains, who spent his life praying for his fellow human beings. Near his cave he had built a shrine to St. Nicholas, the protector of all travelers. He kept an oil lamp burning to show travelers the way. The track near his cave ran beside a deep chasm with strong violently gusting winds, which could sweep a traveler off his feet and into the ravine. It was said that it was an evil spirit who cast the people into the ravine. The hermit kept watch, and if he heard a cry, he would run with a rope to save lives.

One spring evening, on Good Friday as the hermit entered his cave, he heard a voice who asked to speak with him. It was the spirit of the mountain, asking him why the hermit prevented him from casting people into the abyss. The hermit answered that he loved human beings, as God’s youngest creatures, despite their errors and weaknesses.  ‘All that I do is in God’s name, for His love is great.’ The spirit said he would leave the travelers in peace if the hermit could prove that God’s love was greater than any other power. He gave the hermit three chances.

First the hermit told the story of how a shepherd, searching for a lost sheep, had been blown off the path. His daughter had come to look for him and tried to save him, but in the hermit’s absence both had perished. This example of familial love did not impress the spirit.

The next day he told of two soldiers, one of whom carried his wounded and abandoned friend up to the cave. The spirit was likewise not impressed with the love between friends.

That evening a robber, convinced that the hermit had money, beat him and left. When the hermit heard the familiar roar of the wind, and heard the cry, he staggered out and with his last strength threw the rope down to the robber and tied the other end to a rock, allowing the robber to escape. His soul left his body and hovered over it.

The mountain spirit came and spoke: can you see me? The soul answered , Yes now I can see you as you really are. The spirit asked, “Why did you do that? He murdered you!”

‘Love your enemies, my God has taught me,’ answered the saint.

Silence fell.  Then the mountain spirit said: ‘This is greater love than anything that I have ever known.  I shall keep my promise.  Farewell.’

‘Peace be with you’, said the saint.

*"The Saint and the Mountain Spirit" by Maja Muntz-Koundoury can be found in: The Easter Story Book (Floris Books, Edinburgh 1991). To purchase, click here.

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Christmas Dawn 2015, Shepherd Didn't Go

Christmas II, Dawn

December 25, 2015

Luke 2: 1-20

Now is proclaimed the [middle of the Gospel[s], according to Luke in the second chapter.

Now it came to pass in those days that a proclamation went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone set out to be enrolled, each to the town of his ancestors.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house and lineage of David. He went to be enrolled with Mary his betrothed. And Mary was with child. And it came to pass that while they were there, the time was fulfilled for her to be delivered. And she bore her son, her first-born. And she wrapped him in linen and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks in the night. And an angel of the Lord came upon them [appeared before them] and the light of the revelation of God shone about them. And great fear came upon them [they felt the fear of fears].

But the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid; for I announce to you a great joy, which shall be for all men on earth: today is born unto you the Bringer of Healing, in the city of David, Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign for you: you will find a little child wrapped in linen, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly around the angel was the fullness of the heavenly angelic hosts: their song of praise sounded forth to the highest:

God’s Spirit reveals itself in the heights

And brings peace to men of earth

In whose hearts good will dwells!

And as the angels withdrew from them into the heavens, the shepherds said to one another:

“Let us go to Bethlehem to see the fulfillment of the Word that has happened here, which the Lord let be proclaimed.”

And they came hastening, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen, they made known the Word that was spoken to them concerning this child. [or, When they saw that, they understood what had been told them concerning this child.] And all who heard it were astonished about what the shepherds said.

But Mary treasured [preserved] all these words, pondering them [turning them over] in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God to everyone for everything they had heard and seen, which was just as it had been announced to them.

Christmas II, Dawn

December 25, 2015

Luke 2: 1-20

There is a story about the shepherd who didn’t go. When on that first Christmas night the shepherds heard the good news from the angels, one of them, a young boy named Dahvid, did not go with them. He wanted to, but he could not, because he had given his word to his master, mean strict Old Abraham, that come day, come night, come life, come death, he would not fail to keep the flocks. He wanted to go, and wept tears of disappointment when the others left, but he found a certain comfort in thinking of the helplessness of his flock.

After the others had gone, wolves indeed came and made off with one of the sheep. Dahvid followed them and found the two wolves fighting over the sheep at the bottom of ravine. One left, but the other attacked him, biting him on the leg and arm. Nevertheless he managed to kill it with a heavy blow from his staff. With great and slow effort he and the wounded sheep slowly climbed out of the ravine and made their way back to the flock, where the boy collapsed.

As dawn was brightening, Old Abraham came to check his flocks. He grew angry when he called and there was no answer. When he found Dahvid lying on the ground, he thought for a moment that the boy was asleep. But when he caught sight of the white face and bleeding arm, and the wounded sheep, a strange tenderness rose in him. He realized that the boy had not forgotten his promise. He bid his servants to take the boy to the inn for care.

Gerrit Honthorst

The unconscious boy was taken to the stable of the inn. Upon waking he heard the cry of the Child whom the other shepherds had gone to see. One of the shepherds brought the Child and laid Him in Dahvid's arms, the Child for whose coming the people had been longing for a thousand years.

The color at length came back to Dahvid's white cheeks, and strength and health to his limbs and he went back again to the plain. Old Abraham embraced him, "Forgive me, my son. I have been a hard master. Thou hast been very faithful, and for thy reward I make thee lord over all my flocks and half of them shall be thine own."

So Dahvid became a man of flocks, and all his days he was known among the other shepherds as the one who had held the Christ-child in his arms. And there was none among them who was thought so brave, and gentle, and wise as the Shepherd Who Didn't Go.*

Adapted from *The Shepherd Who Didn't Go", in The City that Never Was Reached, by Jay T. Stocking; published by the Pilgrim Press.

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Christmas Midnight 2015,

Christmas I, Midnight

Matthew 1: 1, 17-25

Joseph and the Angel,  Gandolfi,  Wikimedia

[Now is proclaimed the beginning of the whole Gospel, according to Matthew in the first chapter.]

This is the book of the new creation, which has happened through Jesus Christ [or, the generation of Jesus Christ], a son of David, who is a son of Abraham….

From Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David to the deportation to Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the exile in Babylon to Christ are fourteen generations.

The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way: Mary, his mother, was betrothed to Joseph. But before they were aware of having come together, she conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph however, her husband, who was an upright man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, was considering whether he should quietly set her free [or, decided to consider all this a mystery.] As he was pondering this, behold the angel of the Lord appeared before him in a dream and said to him:

 “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because that which is to be born of her is conceived out of the power of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall give him the name Jesus, that is, the Bringer of Healing, for he it will be who will heal his own of their error and guilt. “

All this took place so that the word of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of the prophet, might be fulfilled:

“A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, that is, God in our midst.”

               

Now when Joseph rose from his sleep he did as the angel of the Lord directed him, and he took Mary to himself as his wife, and he knew her not until she bore her son, and he gave him the name Jesus.

Christmas I, Midnight

December 25, 2004 and 2015

Matthew 1: 1, 17-25

An ancient legend tells of something that happened at midnight in the stall at Bethlehem. Long has it been kept secret. But tonight you shall hear it.

The Virgin has just brought the Child into the world. She swaddles and wraps him. Joseph arranges some straw in the manger. He draws her toward this resting place. Mary lays the Child into the manger, and to protect him she pulls her blue mantle halfway over it. The ox and the donkey hardly stir in their corners. The gentle light reflects in their eyes.

The door opens silently, as if a breath of wind blew against it. The figure of a woman stands at the threshold. She is dressed all in gray, in earthy gray. Gray is the hood that covers her head, shadowing her face. Gray is the mantle that falls from shoulders to feet. She appears to be ancient, bent over from a burden long carried.

Mary feels fear as she gazes at her. Is this woman approaching the child with ill will? Yet ox and donkey remain quiet. Peacefully they munch the hay. They look at the stranger as if they have known her since far back in time. The child sleeps undisturbed. Mary does not let the stranger out of her sight. Her slow steps—each one seems to last centuries.

Finally the old one stands at the manger. Mary can see her shadowy features. She gazes into her eyes, which gaze back at her for a moment, and then come to rest on the child. He awakens and opens his eyes. And Mary recognizes: the eyes of the old woman and the eyes of the child both hold the same look; the same hope shines in both.

The old one bends over the child. Beneath her mantle her hand stirs, seeming to want to bring forth something. Mary observes her with the same fear. The animals also gaze down, yet as calmly as if they had known from the beginning what would happen.

Finally after a long moment, the old one draws out her hand; she holds something hidden in it. She hands it to the child.

What is the first gift, even before the shepherds had arrived? From her resting place Mary cannot see; she sees only her back, bent with age that curves even more as she bends over the manger.

It all lasts so long. Finally the figure straightens up, freed of a great weight that had bent her down to the earth. Her shoulders no longer seemed weighed down. Her head rises nearly to the rafters. Her face shines, wonderfully young again. She moves away from the crib, turns toward the door and disappears into the night from which she had come.

The Child and the Apple, Michel Erhard

And now Mary recognizes the mysterious gift she had brought the Child. Eve had come, to bring the Child, as his first gift, the apple, the apple of the first sin with which all calamity had befallen humankind. Over the centuries the golden Paradise apple had become hard and green and sour, an apple that could spoil; an apple that had made anyone who ate of it become ill forever after.

But now, in the Child’s little hand, the apple begins to shine golden again. In the Child’s hand it turns sweet

and juicy and nourishing. Inside the apple is a star; the star shines within a white rose. It shines as the image of the new world that is born with him.

This year, the Child is born anew in the Virgin Soul. In his hand is the apple of the new world he brings. May we bear the child, cherish his nourishment, and work alongside him to bring about his new World.[i]

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[i] From the French, the brothers Tharaud, by Gerhard Wöhrmann in Die Christengemeinschaft, Nov/Dez 1950. Reproduced in Jahresfeste mit Kinder, Brigitte Barz .Translated by C. Hindes. Another version also appears as “The Last Visitor”, in Christmas Roses, Legends for Advent, collected by Mimi Zotterman, Anthroposophic Press.

4th Advent 2015, Mortal Good

4th Advent

Luke 1: 26-38

Fra Angelico

During the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a maiden engaged to a man named Joseph of the descendants of David, and the maiden’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said her, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was confused at those words, and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High,

And the Lord your God will give him the Throne of David your father.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever;

And his kingdom will have no end. “

And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have never known a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her,

 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

And for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your kinswoman Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For no word is spoken in the worlds of the spirit that does not have the power to become reality on earth.”

 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the Lord’s handmaid; may it be to me according to your word. “

And the angel departed from her.

4th Advent

Luke 1: 26-38

As the great day approaches, we remember back to how it all came about: the angel announces to Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High God will overshadow her like a cloud. And thus she will give birth to the holy.

Mary represents the soul of each of us. Ever and again there come to us moments when the holy, healing spirit of the Father’s love comes over us. His power surrounds us, overlights us in a bright cloud; and we are enabled to bring forth something, perhaps a kind, encouraging word, a rescuing deed, a creative solution, something holy and healing.

Descent of Holy Spirit

This comes about more easily through our contemplative openness of soul and our willingness to serve. This is how the Son of the Most High is born through us; how His kingdom is extended in and through our lives; how His glory and power work in us. In the words of Wendell Berry:

A child unborn, the coming year
Grows big within us, dangerous,
And yet we hunger as we fear
For its increase: the blunted bud

To free the leaf to have its day,
The unborn to be born. The ones
Who are to come are on the way,
and though we stand in mortal good

Among our dead, we turn in doom
In joy to welcome them, stirred by
That ghost who stirs in seed and tomb,
Who brings the stones to parenthood.[1]

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[1] Wendell Berry, A Child Unborn, the coming year; To Mary

3rd Advent 2015, Laboring in Travail

3^rd Advent

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal.

3^rd Advent

December 13, 2015

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

In the last weeks of pregnancy, a woman often slows down. If her preparations are done, she is often peaceful, waiting. But as the date nears, she may get restless. And when labor begins, it brings turmoil and anxiety.

Catastrophic personal events, as well as world events, bring turmoil and anxiety. Many are those who suffer. Yet it may be that these events are in fact birth pangs. Humanity is laboring in travail to bring forth a new version of itself.

We are laboring to bring forth enough sons and daughters of light, who shine in the inner and outer darkness; sons and daughters who are calm and self-possessed, whose hearts overflow with trust and love. Such sons and daughters look forward in anticipation of the healing of humankind, because they know that Christ is near. He is seeking to be born again within human souls and hearts.

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2nd Advent 2015, Gentle Kindliness

2nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

2nd Advent

December 6, 2015

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

There is an old fable about a contest between the sun and the wind, over which of them could take off the cloak of a traveler on the road.  The wind blew, and blew harder, but the man just pulled his cloak tighter. When it was the sun’s turn, he shone warmer and warmer, until the man took off the cloak himself.

A steady warmth and gentleness often achieve more than forceful bluster. Gentleness lowers defenses. It leaves others free.

We are in the time when Christ is approaching human souls. He is like the sun – gentle and warm, encouraging. We can lower the cloak of our defenses and take in his light and warmth. And we can in turn kindly radiate them out to others. He is the source; we are the means, the channels. So in the words of Paul:

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near!

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