Tuesday, April 22, 2014

2nd Easter 2011, Inspired

2nd Easter
John 20: 19-29

On the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said,
“Peace be with you!”
And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Full of joy the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on you shall work in human destinies with spiritual power, so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of their offences.”
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”
Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the inner room and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”
Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.”
And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.”

2nd Easter

May 1, 2011
John 20: 19-29

Our breathing is a two-sided process. With each in-breath, we take in something of the world. And with each exhalation, we breathe something of ourselves out into the world. But modern life, with its stresses and anxieties, makes our breathing too shallow—we often take in too little, give out too little of ourselves.

In today’s reading, the disciples are locked in a room together for fear of what the world may do to them. Christ enters this anxious space and He breathes onto them and asks them to receive His breath. He wants to breathe into them His holy, healing spirit-breath. He wants to fill their lungs with His life, fill their souls with His peaceful courage, and His love. He wants to breathe into them His power to overcome. They will inhale His breath, the fresh breath of spring and new life, His resuscitating power. They in turn will be able to breathe His healing spirit out into the world. They will breathe out peace and love, courage, strength and comfort.

We too have the opportunity to be breathed into, to be ‘inspired’, by Christ. We have come together in a room into which we invite His spirit. We ask that His grace-bearing spirit breathe down onto us, into us, as we breathe out the offering of our souls’ devotion. We receive His peace, along with the bread and wine of His transformed body. Bread and wine become for us the touchstone of His transforming power. Like Thomas we will be able to say to Him, ‘You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.’






Easter Sunday 2011, Sun Bird

Easter Sunday
Mark 16: 1-18

And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”
And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clad in a white robe; and they were beside themselves with amazement. And he said to them, “Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where they laid Him [his body]. But go, and say to his disciples and Peter “He will lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.”
            And they went out and fled from the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had experienced.
Rembrandt
When He had risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp it.
After this He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they could not open their hearts to their words either.
Afterwards He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and for their hardness of heart, because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the Risen One.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the new message from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites his heart with it  [believes] and is immersed in me [baptized] will attain the salvation. But whoever closes himself against it does not let the power of selflessness into his heart [does not let the power of My Self into his heart] will meet his downfall. And spiritual powers [these signs] will stand by those who unite themselves with it and will attend their path [believe]: Through the power of my being [in my name] they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they are given to drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and give healing forces to them.

Easter Sunday
April 24, 2011
Mark 16: 1 – 18

Many ancient mythologies tell of a bird of great beauty, with colored plumage
of red and gold. It first appeared on the primeval mound that rose from the watery chaos at the first creation. It first cry, so melodious that the rising sun stops to listen—marks the beginning of time and its rhythmic division into hours, days, weeks, years. It lives on the dew.

This bird has a very long lifespan, some say 500, some say 1,000 years. As the end of its life approaches, the bird builds a pyre nest of the branches of aromatic trees, like the healing myrrh. It sets it afire and is consumed. After three days there arises a young bird, who gathers the ashes of the nest, which was both sepulcher and cradle, and forms them into an egg of myrrh. It takes this egg to the city of the sun and deposits it on the altar of the Sun God, thus ushering in a new phase out of its own life.

The Sun Bird is the image for Christ, the Sun Spirit and the creator of time. He lives on the dew of His Father’s will. He rises anew after His life is consumed with love for humanity. In the grave, like the Sun Bird, He creates a new form out of the ashes of the old. As the young man at the tomb told the women: He is risen; His body is not here—see the place where they laid Him.’ (Mark 16:6) When two of his disciples are walking across the field, they are overtaken by Him, unrecognized. The three of them discuss what had just taken place, and how this all fitted in with the scriptural prophecies. Afterward, they finally realized with Whom they had been, and they say, ‘Did our hearts not already burn within us as He spoke to us on the way?” (Luke 24:13, ff.)

Because Christ is also eternal, from beyond time, everything He did in His human life and death is still ongoing. His descent into the depths of earthly existence, in life and in death, means that these are the very places we can always find Him. He walks with us through all our greater and lesser deaths.
He is also always here in the very depths of our own being, in the deepest core of our heart, with His power to renew. He lives in us as the firebird, the force that consumes and un-forms the old when its time is past. And He is the phoenix force that helps us re-form ourselves anew out of the ashes.

The grave is empty; the heart is full. For Christ has entered the very pulse of our life. The earth is living in the sun’s spirit-radiant power. For it, along with us, has been placed on the altar of the Sun-God.

www.thechristiancommunity.org