2nd St. Johnstide 2010, God Pours Light

St. Johnstide

John 1: 19-28, 29-34, 35-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.”“Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Habegger

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that

this is God’s Son.”

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 4, 2010

John 1: 19 – 34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the daylight is beginning its decline, while in the Southern half, the days are just beginning to grow longer. The light of the whole world rises and falls like a slow, giant see-saw. The shorter days on one side are balanced by longer days on the other.

John the Baptist points to Christ and calls Him the Lamb of God who takes upon Himself the burden of the sins of the world. Humankind has so overburdened world destiny on the dark side, that it takes a great and ongoing sacrificial deed of light to balance it out. And so it is: Christ continues to shine the light of His ongoing sacrificial deeds into the world to balance out its darkness.

Today in the US we are celebrating the great gift of freedom. To us human beings, God grants the freedom of choice: we can continue to choose thoughts, words and deeds of darkness, or those of light. Some human beings open themselves, open their hearts like a chalice, to the Christ-light. The healing Spirit descends upon them too, even if only for moments, as it did for Jesus at His Baptism. They catch fire, and begin to shine Christ’s light into the world along with Him. They add the brightness of their human light deeds to His, to help add to the balance of light overcoming the darkness. For as the poet says:

God

pours light

into every cup,

quenching darkness.

….God pours light

and the trees lift their limbs

without worry of redemption,

every blossom a chalice.

….light

pours like rain

into every empty cup

set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]  Hafiz, (Interpretive version of Ghazal 11 by Jose Orez)