2nd 3rd or 4th
Michaelmas
Revelation 12: 1-17
And a momentous image was
unveiled in the world of spirit: a woman, clothed with the radiant power of the
sun, the moon under her feet, her head adorned with the crown of the twelve
stars of heaven. And she is with child and cries out in the labor and pain of
giving birth.
And at the same time a second image was revealed in
the heavens: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its
head it has seven crowns and its tail is sweeping a third of all the stars in
heaven and dashing them onto the earth. And the dragon is standing before the
woman about to give birth, so that when she bears the child he can eat it up.
And she bore a child, a son ”who would shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.”
And the woman’s child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman
fled into the wilderness where she has a place that God keeps ready there, so
that they can take care of her for days numbering one thousand two hundred
sixty.
And a war flared up in the spirit world. Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought in the midst of
his own angels, but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer
any place for them in heaven. Down came the dragon, the giant, the serpent, the
evil one called both Satan and the devil, deceiver of all the world. Onto the
earth he came hurtling down, and all his angels with him.
And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying:
Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—
The power to heal the world,
The power to transform all being,
The power to draw everything into godly being.
Arisen is the spirit leadership of his Christ.
Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,
He who accused them night and day before the countenance of God.
They have overcome him through the blood and the sacrificial power of
the Lamb
And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.
They did not love their own lives too dearly, and they did not fear
death.
Therefore, rejoice you heavens
And all who lodge therein!
But woe to the earth and the sea:
For the Adversary has come down to you,
And he seethes with measureless fury,
For he knows that his time is short.
And when the dragon recognized that he had been
cast onto the earth, he began to persecute the woman who had borne the son.
Then the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly
into the desert to her appointed place, where she is to be nourished for a
cycle of time, for cycles of time, and for half a cycle of time, far from the
face of the serpent.
And the serpent opened his mouth and spewed out a
river of water after the
woman so she would be swept off her feet by the
river. But then the earth came to the woman’s assistance; it opened its mouth
and swallowed the river which the dragon spewed from his mouth. And the dragon
burned with fury against the woman. He stormed away to make war on the rest of
the woman’s seed, people who keep to the divine world aims and who are united
with the destiny and witnessing of Jesus. As I saw this I was standing on the
sandy shore of the sea.
3rd Michaelmas Sunday
Revelation 12: 1-17
We may have experienced that when others express confidence
in us, we find ourselves able to do things we had not thought possible. Their
faith in us strengthens us for the challenge. Their faith can see us as already
having overcome it.
Michael and his angels have conquered the accusing
adversary, the critic, and thrown him out of heaven. The dragon of criticism,
antagonism and lies, has been thrown down to earth, and now weaves himself
among us. This is cause for alarm.
But it is also a vote of confidence in mankind. Michael sees
us as ready to take on the challenge of confronting evil—the criticism,
antagonism and lies both in ourselves, and in the world. The challenge is
indeed a formidable one. Michael is the vanguard of Christ. In our time, Michael
‘goes before Christ’s face’, as His countenance. And his expression is earnest.
At the same time, Christ says in the Act of Consecration of
Man, that after His death on the cross, there will flow in the blood a new
faith. This is not only our faith, that help is to be had from divine beings. It is
also the faith that Christ and Michael have in humanity. With their strength in
our blood, with their help, we will awaken and rise to the challenge of evil.
With their help, we will manage to escape its devouring power. They will give
us our own eagle wings to fly to our appointed place; so that the newly born
Christ in us, the Christ in the soul, will be protected. They can see us as
already having overcome it.
The world may scoff at our efforts, oppose them even; but
we, too, have faith; for as Reinhold Niebuhr said,
Nothing that is worth doing can be
achieved in our lifetime;
therefore, we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense
in any immediate context of history;
therefore, we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;
therefore we are saved by love.[1]
therefore, we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense
in any immediate context of history;
therefore, we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;
therefore we are saved by love.[1]
[1]
Reinhold Niebuhr, Excerpt from The Irony of American History, cited in Leading from Within, ed. by S. M. Intrator and M. Scribner
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