4th June Trinity 2015, Lifting our Hands

June Trinity

John 11: 17-44

When Jesus got [to Bethany] there, he found that he [Lazarus] had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary remained within. And Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know that he will rise again in the great resurrection at the end of time.”

Then Jesus said to her, “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever fills himself with my power through faith, he will live even when he dies; and whoever takes me into himself as his life, he is set free from the might of death in all earthly cycles of time. Do you feel the truth of these words?” And she said, “Yes Lord. With my heart I have recognized that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this she went and called her sister Mary and said to her privately, “The Master is here and is asking for you.” Jesus had not yet entered the town. He had stayed in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her. They thought she was going to the tomb to weep there. But Mary came to the place where Jesus was, and when she saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been there, this brother of mine would not have died. “

When Jesus saw how she and the Jews coming with her were weeping, he aroused himself in spirit and, deeply moved within himself, he asked, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Come, Lord, and see.” 

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not he who restored the sight of the blind man keep this man from dying?” And again Jesus, deeply moved within himself went up to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. And Jesus said, “Take away the stone!”

Then said Martha, the sister of him whose life had reached completion, “Lord, there will be an odor [he has already begun to decompose], for this is the fourth day.” But Jesus said, “Did I not say to you that if you had faith, you would see the revelation of God?”

Then they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes to the spirit and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me; but because of the people standing here I say it, so that their hearts may know that you have sent me. Then he called with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of linen, his face covered with a veil. And Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

June Trinity

June 21, 2015

John 11: 17-44

Every morning we waken from sleep and rise from our beds.  If we are laid low with the flu, or by soul events, eventually we recover and our spirits rise again. This is the power of resurrection, of rising and ascent, working subtly and unconsciously in us. It is a power we take for granted.

Today’s reading tries to make clear to us where this power of rising comes from.  ‘I AM the resurrection and the life,’ says Christ. I AM the force of levity that overcomes all of life’s graves. I AM the power that lifts toward the sun. Then He asks the Martha in us, ‘Do you feel the truth of these words?’ For it is important that we become conscious of this Source of Rising, that we feel and know its truth. For Christ wants us to work with Him, consciously. He wants to extend to us His resurrection power, the power to overcome death, so that we in turn can extend it to the earth itself.

Shuplyak Oleg

He has raised human beings. He can raise the Lazarus in us, the part of us that is joined with Him in love. But to raise the earth, to elevate its being, Christ needs the cooperation of humanity. Together with Christ’s power of elevation, we can work consciously for the future of the earth.

In the Act of Consecration of Man we raise our thoughts and feelings toward the spirit. We raise substances of earth, bread, wine, water, to the divine, so that they can be permeated with divine life and transformed. The power of resurrection, of raising, of levity and ascent, has been given to us –Let the bread be…..let the wine be…. Christ in the lifting of our hands.

Visit our website!