St. Johnstide
John 3: 22-36
After this Jesus and his disciples came to the land of
Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at
Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and
people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.
Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John
and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to
him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness –
here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual
power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You
yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent
before him.’
“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But
the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled
with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must
increase, but I must decrease.
He who descends from above, out of the spiritual
world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth,
whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.
He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all
who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of
the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his
testimony.
But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to
this: that God is true [truth] [that there is
no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with
the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not
according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens
in man.
The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love,
and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son
within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.
Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within
will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world
must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”
3rd St. Johnstide
 |
| Sombart |
June 14, 2013
John 3: 22 – 36
Here in the northern
Hemisphere the sun has reached its zenith, and is turning, while in the south
it has begun its slow ascent. Yet north or south, the sunlight pours forth its
power, generating life on the earth. We receive the life that glides down to us
on the rays of the sun. The gift, the grace of life descends with the light.
Christ is the Source of
Life in the universe. He is the Spirit Sun. He is surrounded by the Father’s
love. He receives the Father’s love and pours it out as life into the world.
When we take His
life-giving light into ourselves, our spirits grow out of the earthly into
timeless life.
We learn to trust the
power of Christ working within us, for this power of His is the life-giving
power of Love. We learn to trust in the life-generating power of His cycles of
life. As the poet says:
Why cling to one life
Till it is soiled and ragged?
The sun dies and dies
Squandering a hundred lives
Every instant
God has decreed life for you
And He will give
www.thechristiancommunity.org
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