Thursday, October 17, 2013

3rd Michaelmas 2009, Power to Heal

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
October 18, 2009
Revelation 12: 1- 17

In recent decades interesting work is being done in clearing toxic waste. There are discoveries of bacteria that eat oil, for example; or sunflowers that absorb radiation from the soil.

In today’s reading, we hear that the dragon has been thrown out of the spiritual world and onto the earth. Some solution! –we on earth may think; sending us your spiritual toxic waste!

Yet the angels sing of great positive possibilities within this situation. They sing:
Now can being the working that proceeds from our God—
the power to heal;
the power to transform all being,
the power to draw everything into divine being. Rev 12: 10

The story of the heavenly woman and the dragon itself shows us that great transformative forces, forces for change and healing, also exist here on earth.

The woman is saved on the one hand by the force of the great eagle of creative thinking, implanted in each one of us. This is the kind of thinking that has helped us deal with earthly toxic waste. This creative thinking also has the power to protect and nourish our souls.

Another is the living earth herself, she who absorbs and transforms all that pours into her. Her strength in us is resilience; she protects us from being overwhelmed.
  
And yet another are the heavenly hosts themselves, led by the archangel Michael, who will join us in transforming the destructive power of the adversary on earth. His name means, Who is like God?  The answer is, we are to be. But, in respect for our freedom, he waits for us to ask him to help us.

So in the words of the poet, we can say to ourselves:

My heart be brave, and do not falter so,
Nor utter more that deep, despairing wail….
Rise up, and casting off thy hind’ring shrouds,
Cling thou to this, and ever inspiring hope:
   Tho’ thick the battle and tho’ fierce the fight,
   There is a power making for the right.[1]




[1] Sonnet by James Weldon Johnson

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