Whitsun III 2009, Odor of Roses

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whittuesday

June 2, 2009

John 14:23-31

Another image in the Pentecost story is the picture, or rather the sound of the wind. The disciples are sitting together in prayer, shut up in a room, when the roaring of a strong wind is heard. This sound fills the whole house. And on the back of the wind comes a fire, tongues of the flame of spirit awareness, which settle over each of them. A heightened understanding of the great truth of things, that the universe is permeated by love, is often accompanied by an awareness of one’s own smallness.

The poet describes this Pentecostal mood:

The wind, one brilliant day, called

to my soul with an odor of jasmine.

"In return for the odor of my jasmine,

I'd like all the odor of your roses."

"I have no roses; all the flowers

in my garden are dead."

"Well then, I'll take the withered petals

and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain."

The wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:

"What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?"[1]

Expanded awareness is the key to Pentecost, and expanded awareness inevitably means the pain of an expanded and true self-awareness.

Yet note in the poem that the spirit wind will take away anything we have to offer—even the withered petals and leaves of our failures. For on the back of the spirit-wind comes the purifying fire, the fire of love, creative of being. Autumn’s leaves and withered petals will spirited away to be burned, but there will  always be the water in the fountain, so that even what has died will be transformed into new life

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Antonio Machado, “The Wind, One Brilliant Day”, translated by Robert Bly.

Whitsun II 2009, Loving Through Death

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitmonday

June 1, 2009

John 14:23-31

A second image that belongs to the Pentecost story is the image of the dove. She is a creature belonging to both the air and the ground. She descends and ascends again and again, to the realm of light and warmth where gravity has little pull. And she returns to earth, happy to walk and feed there.

We too are creatures of two worlds, the airy world of soul and the world of earth. The poet explores our dual nature:

What's it like to be a human

the bird asked

I myself don't know

it's being held prisoner by your skin

while reaching infinity

being a captive of your scrap of time

while touching eternity

being hopelessly uncertain

and helplessly hopeful…

it's being on fire

with a nest made of ashes

eating bread

while filling up on hunger

it's dying without love

it's loving through death[1]

In the Pentecost story, the dove is the bird of truth, sent by Christ from the Father’s realm. Christ has expanded His being, so that now His feet are grounded in the earth, and His heart is in the clouds that surround the whole earth. Through the dove He sends the truth that we shall indeed keep on being creatures of two realms. But gradually, through love we shall make earth’s nest of ashes into a phoenix fire; we shall reach infinity through hope, touch eternity by loving through death. And one day the two realms will be one.

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  Anna Kamienska, in Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska,

 ed. and trans. by D. Curzon and G. Drabik)

Whitsun 2009, Voice of the Fire

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitsunday

May 31, 2009

John 14:23-31

At the first Pentecost event, the disciples see a mighty fire that divides itself into separate flames. Each flame comes to rest over the head of one of them.

In paintings by Fra Angelico, the flame also appears above the heads of angels. It is the symbol of an expanded awareness, an awareness that a river of love, the water of life, flows through all of creation, pervading the entire universe. The flames are the fire of love, a love which creates, whose flames are creating our eternal existence.

A sudden awareness of the love that creates and bears the universe can at the same time make us aware of our own shortcomings in the realm of love. How loveless we can sometimes be! This painful self-awareness becomes the fire that burns, that burns away the dross of our selfish egotism. Once overcome, however, we can then proceed to generate the fire and warmth of a quiet but enthusiastic love for others, especially for those whose path is different from ours. We can generate an enthusiastic love for the truth. We can generate enthusiasm for deeds of service.

The poet[1] helps us become aware of our fear of this transformation of the self:

On the left is a blazing fire and

On my right a cool flowing stream

One group of people walk toward the fire, into the fire

And the other toward the cool flowing waters

No one knows which is blessed and which is not.

But just as someone enters the fire,

That head bobs up from the water

And just as a head enters the water

That face appears in the fire….

The voice of the fire says:

I am not fire, I am fountainhead

Come into me, and don’t mind the sparks.

Our true self is a fire that burns; it burns away egotism; it burns unextinguished in the waters of life-giving love.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi