4th St. Johnstide 2012, Good Fruits

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.”

Balduino

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.”

4^th St. Johnstide

July 15, 2012

Luke 3: 7-18

Sometimes the sweetest fruit comes from an old tree; but usually it is a tree that has been long cared for with thoughtful pruning and generous stimulus to growth.

One of humanity’s old ‘cultural trees’ is Buddha’s eightfold path. The path is a call to be mindful of how a one thinks and acts. He encourages us to make rightful decisions based on appropriate strivings, and to accurately recollect and contemplate our past thoughts and actions.

The eightfold path is echoed in today’s reading. John the Baptist’s suggestions for preparing our hearts and minds for an encounter with Christ is especially relevant for today:

Share, don’t hoard. Speak truth. Don’t intimidate.

J.P. de Rothchild

These are the heart generosities and soul prunings that produce “good fruits in keeping with a change of heart and mind”. It doesn’t matter how young or how old the soul. Neither do genetics, social standing or cultural heritage matter. We all can practice cultivating our own hearts and minds. For every tree that does not produce good fruit is of no use to the world. No matter how insignificant our outer lives may otherwise seem, our hearts and minds can become like the tree described by Denise Levertov:

  
    …this tree, behold,
    glows from within;
    haloed in visible
    invisible gold.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Denise Levertov,  “Last Night's Dream”