4th or 5th
November Trinity
The end of Revelation 22:
12-21
4th Seal, Arild Rosenkrantz |
“Watch, I am coming soon, and
I will have my rewards with me so as to give to each person what his deeds
amount to. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning
and the goal.”
Blessed are those who cleanse
their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life,
which overcomes death, and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside
shall remain those who are bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers,
who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give
themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify
their true being.
“I, Jesus, sent my angel to
report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of
David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning”.
And the Spirit and the Bride,
the Holy City, say, “Come!
And may he who hears also
say, “Come!” And may the thirsty come, and may everyone who wants it get to
drink the Water of Life freely, as grace.
Everyone who hears can find
his inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does
not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead him to full knowledge
through the trials of destiny which are written in this book.
And whoever diminishes the
words of this prophecy, God will remove from him his share in the Tree of Life
that overcomes death, and his share in the Holy City written about in this
book.
He who lends these words their
power says:
“Yes, I am coming quickly!”
Yea, so be it. Amen:
Come, Jesus our Lord
The grace of the Lord Jesus,
be with you all!
4th November Trinity
Rev. 22: 12 – 21
Life on earth unfolds itself in cyclic rhythms. In the fall,
just where the leaf is attached to the branch, the new buds for next year’s
growth are already formed. The new life pushes the old leaves off the branch.
They fall to earth to help form the soil. The buds, still tightly closed, over-winter
and unfold the following spring. This is a cycle of apparent destruction, but
also the expression of an eternal hope. New life forms within the destruction
of the old.
Today’s gospel reading from the end of the entire
Apocalypse, stresses this same pattern in cosmic time: destruction of what is
no longer capable of life, in service of what is moving into the future.
The picture is given of a crowd of people in white. They are
in a monumental realm in the world of spirit, a city, wherein stands a living
tree that overcomes the death process. One can imagine this as the World Tree.
Some myths picture it with leaves of sun-gold and moon silver, sparkling with
star-diamond fruit. In the midst of this radiant tree, we may discern the human
form of the wounded Sun-God, he who overcame death, arms outspread in a
universal embrace of love.
The Selfless Self, the I AM, through His blood flowing from
the tree of the cross, rid human blood of the excess of selfish human egotism.
He resurrected the diamond of Divine Self as pure sacrificial love for all. He
invites us to join him in the creation of cosmic fruit.
Just as last year’s leaves fall away, so also must our
leaves and layers of egotism be shed.
They had their necessary time in human evolution, but now no longer serve. To
join Him, we strip ourselves of the negative aspects of having an ego. We work
to free ourselves from our enslavement to the lower senses. We struggle to rid
ourselves of the desire to exercise power over others through self-assertion.
We struggle to rid ourselves of the killing impulses contained in the aggression
and hatred in our words and deeds. We turn to the world in interest and love.
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