June Trinity
There was a
man in the circle of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus; he held high rank
among the Jews. He came to Jesus in the night and said, “Master, we know that
you are a high teacher of mankind, come to us from God, for no one can do such
signs of the Spirit as you do unless God himself is working together with him
in his deeds.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “The truth out of the spirit I say to
you: whoever is not born anew from above cannot behold the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born again when he is old? Can
he return to his mother’s womb to be born again a second time?
Jesus answered, “the truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever
remains as he is, and does not come to a new birth out of the formative power
of the water and out of the breath of the spirit [or, …and is not born anew out of the spiritual power of eternal
becoming and out of being touched by the might of the spirit world] cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What is born out of earthly
elements is of earthly nature. But what is born out of the breath of the
spirit, is itself spirit. Do not wonder that I said to you that you must be
born anew from above. The spirit wind blows where it will; you hear the sound
of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So it is
with everyone who is born anew out of the breath of the spirit.
Nicodemus replied and said to him, “How can one attain this?”
Jesus
answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and do not know? Amen, the truth I say
to you: we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen in
the spirit, but none of you accepts our testimony. When I speak to you of
earthly things and you do not believe them, how shall you believe when I want to
speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ascended to the spiritual world who
has not previously descended out of the spiritual world, that is, the Son of
Man.
Just as Moses once lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who finds his power in their hearts
can win a share in the higher life beyond time. God has so loved the world that
he has given his only begotten Son. From now on, no one who fills himself with his
power shall perish, for he will share in timeless, higher life. God did not
send the Son into the world to condemn it, but in order that the world be saved
[healed] through him, and not fall prey to ruin.”
2nd June Trinity
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John 3, 1-17
The interplay of water and air creates ever-changing forms.
Water become invisible as it rises into the air. It condenses into clouds that
continually form, shape-shift and disappear. Water as liquid sunshine drops
from the sky back to earth and forms lakes, rivers that flow to the sea.
We human beings have formed bodies in the womb to be our
earthly house. Before that, we existed as invisible spirits, spirits who then
formed and entered matter.
Nicodemus’s puzzlement about being born anew from above
shows how much humanity had lost touch with its own spiritual being and
activity. Christ came to help us join our invisible spiritual self, the part
that descended from God, with our earthly selves, in a new way. He came to help
us become effective as spirits working on earth. He came to help us connect
with the ‘real time’ activity of the spiritual world, that creative realm which
continually brings the new into being.
Christ came to help us bring spirit into matter, so that
ultimately everything on earth can be filled with the renewing creating power
of becoming. And this mighty process will take place through the divine power
working through human beings, through Christ in us. Through Christ in us we are
born anew out the spiritual power of eternal becoming. In Christ we are touched
by the might of the spirit world, so that the earth may be renewed, and not
fall prey to ruin.
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