First Advent 2015, Strengthening Transformation

1st Advent

Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by

excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

1st Advent

November 29, 2015

Luke 21:25-36

Living things are always changing. The plants change form from seed to shoot to leaves, from leaves to blossom and fruit and seed. The living light of the sun is in constantly changing flux. These changes affect our experience.

Roland Tiller

Every year at this time, Christ slowly descends once again toward the opportunity for an intimate connection with humankind. Because He is Life itself, His approach stimulates change, change in the cosmos, change in our souls. One natural reaction to great change is anxiety.

The gospel encourages us to recognize in advance that our anxiety is caused in fact by the approach of Christ, the giver of Life, the refresher of our life’s true meaning. He is the giver of transformative change. We are encouraged not to just smother our unease with excess of food and drink. Rather we are encouraged to practice a state of vigilant, strengthening prayer.

Christ is seeking an encounter with our wakeful spirits, to take place during the days and nights of Christmas. We may pray that

…we be strengthened from the founts of will that bear us toward freedom;

 that we be illumined from the founts of wisdom that warm the inmost heart;

 that we feel peace from the founts of love which bless human work. [1]

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[1] Adapted from the Intercessory Prayer in MeditativePrayers for Today, Adam Bittleston

4th November Trinity 2015, Spiritual Gemstones

4th November Trinity

Revelation 21: 9-27

And he carried me in spirit-form up to a great high mountain, and let me see how the Holy City, Jerusalem, the City of Peace, descended out of the spiritual worlds, coming forth from the being of God, wrapped in the most intimate splendor of the revelation of God.

Her shining [gleaming] is like that of a precious gemstone, like the stone jasper, clear as crystal.

Her walls are of mighty size and height; she has twelve gates and at the gates stand twelve angels. On the gates are written the names of the twelve sons of Israel; three gates from the East, three gates from the North, three gates from the South, and three gates from the West.

And the wall of the City rests on twelve sacred foundations, and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb work in them.

And he who spoke with me carried a golden measuring rod, in order to measure the City and her gates and her walls.

And the City is spread out in a square; her length is the same as her width. And he measured the City with the measuring rod. It measured twelve thousand miles; the length and breadth and height were alike. And he measured her walls at one hundred forty-four cubits [ells], the measure of a man, which now the angel was using.

The covering of her walls was of jasper, and the City herself of purified gold, clear as glass. And the sacred foundation of the wall were adorned with every precious stone:

 

the first, a jasper,

the second, a sapphire,

the third, a chalcedony,

the fourth, emerald,

the fifth sardonyx,

the sixth, carnelian,

the seventh, chrysolite,

the eighth, beryl,

the ninth, topaz,

the tenth, chrysoprase

the eleventh, hyacinth,

the twelfth, an amethyst.

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the city was of purified gold, like a transparent crystal.

I did not see a temple in the City, for the Lord God, Ruler of All, is her sanctuary, and the Lamb.

And the City needs neither sun nor moon, for she shines from within; for the shining revelation of God is streaming brightness in her, and her light is the Lamb.

And all nations shall walk in her light, and the rulers of the earth will carry their spiritual treasures into her. And her gates will never be closed by day, for there, night will be no more.

And all the shining treasures of the revelations of the world, and all the spiritual worth of the nations and all achievements of the soul will be brought into her.

And nothing can enter which is not spiritualized [consecrated], nothing which perverts the image of Man, nothing which remains under the power of the Lie, but rather only those who are written into the Book of Life of the Lamb.

4^th Nov Trinity

Heavenly Jerusalem, Maronite

Revelation 21: 9-27

November 22, 2015

All endings are also new beginnings. As we finish the liturgical year, we are given a mighty picture of the future of humankind. The image is that of a city, built on a twelve-fold foundation. These twelve foundations are pictured as twelve precious stones. They represent the soul and spiritual qualities, the virtues of all humankind. 

These precious gems of the virtues, the foundations of our own future, are

The amethyst of devotion, the hyacinth of equilibrium, the chrysoprase of perseverance; topaz of unselfishness, beryl of compassion; chrysolite of courtesy, carnelian of contentment, sardonyx of patience; chalcedony of courage, sapphire of discretion, emerald of truth and the jasper of generosity of spirit.*  

It is the common task of humanity to develop these virtues, so that our next dwelling place, the new creation of the city of Peace, will have a firm foundation in goodness.

The jasper of magnanimous generosity holds a special place. It will rise as walls of love that will surround and protect us. And the openings through those walls of love are the twelve gates of pearl, that lustrous substance created in response to suffering. For it is through our suffering that we will ultimately enter the city of peace.

All these spiritual treasures of the soul of humanity make us into the Bride, the wife of the Lamb of God, who is Christ. For that is our ultimate goal – to choose, in love and devotion, to be wed to Christ whose fullness of Life is enveloped in Love.

*The Apocalypse, Friedrich Benesch 

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2nd November Trinity 2015, Peek-a-Boo

2^nd November Trinity

November 8, 2015

Rev. 3, 14-22 (Laodicea)

And to the leading angel of the community at Laodicea write: Thus speaks the Amen, he who strengthens all spiritual working with his own being, the witness trusted and true, the ground of all divine creation:

I see through your deeds. You are neither cold nor hot. You should be either cold, or hot. But since you are lukewarm, I am about to spew you out of my mouth.

You say: I am rich, I have my fortune, and I don’t need anything else. But you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable, a beggar blind and naked. I counsel you to acquire from me

gold that is purified in fire, that you may become truly rich;

and garments to clothe yourself, so that the shame which lies in your nakedness may not be revealed;

and a salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.

Christ the Light of the World, Holman Hunt, wiki

I AM he who disciplines all whom he loves, calls them to account and refines them through trials of destiny, thus drawing them into the stream of cleansing.

Therefore generate warmth [be eager] [strengthen yourself] and change your heart and mind.

Behold, I stand before the door and knock. If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and share the meal with him, and he with me.

He who overcomes, to him I will give the power to sit with me on my throne, just as I have been raised to the throne of my Father through the victory of the spirit. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit would say to the churches.

 2^nd November Trinity

November 8, 2015

Rev. 3, 14-22 (Laodicea)

One of the illusions of our modern consciousness is that we stand alone. We may experience ourselves as enclosed and isolated within our own skin. And therefore we try to draw toward ourselves everything, money, possessions, that seem to reinforce our sense of self-sufficiency.

These letters to the congregations tell us otherwise. For truly we are embedded in a world of spiritual beings. “We walk through the spiritual worlds exactly as we walk through the physical air”.[1] And although we may be unaware of them, the consciousness of these beings extends beyond and into our own. Alone though we may feel ourselves to be, we are continuously being seen, watched over, cared for and cared about. It is because we are not aware of them that we can act as though they don’t exist. We are like small children playing peek-a-boo who ‘hide’ by covering their eyes and saying ‘you can’t see me!’ The human race has made itself blind.

One of the signs of spiritual adulthood is becoming aware of the other – of other people, of other beings. As we grow spiritually we can become aware that we are seen, that we cannot hide. We become aware, sometimes painfully, of our shortcomings and failings. This is a first step toward healing.

Ultimately we are accountable. As the funeral service of The Christian Community says: Know that you are beholden to the spiritual beings for everything that you do in thought, in speech, in action. Today’s reading urges us to change the way we frame our awareness, to enlarge it. The spiritual world, Christ and his angels, are knocking at the door of our awareness. We have the choice to open, or not. If we do, they will nourish and strengthen our own awareness, our souls and spirits.

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[1] Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 194 – The Mysteries of Light, of Space, and of the Earth – Lecture III – Dornach, 14th December 1919

First November Trinity 2015, Creative, Radiant

1st November Trinity

Revelation 1, 1-20

This is the unveiling of the being of Jesus Christ, which proceeds out of the divine world for those who would serve him. To them shall be revealed what must of necessity happen in the future and which powerfully presses into world events. God formed this revelation in imagery and sent it through his angel to his servant John. And so John speaks as a witness to everything he saw, that is, to the Divine Word, and to the life of Jesus Christ, which serves as a testimony. Blessed is he who knows how to read the prophetic words, and blessed are those who know how to hear them, and all who take what is written in this book into their souls; for time presses.

John, to the seven congregations in Asia:

Grace and peace to you

Durer

From Him who is, and who was, and who is coming

And from the seven creating spirits before his throne

And from Jesus Christ.

By his witnessing he is the archetype of trust.

He is the first born from the realm of death,

He is the leading spirit of the Kings on earth.

He has turned to us in love, and by the power of his blood

He has released us from the spell of sin which lay upon us.

He has established us as true kings and made us into priests

before the divine Ground of the World, his Father.

To him belongs all light of the spirit and all power of soul from aeon to aeon. Amen.

See: he comes in the realm of the clouds.

All eyes shall see him, also the eyes of those who pierced him.

And men down the ages will lament about him. Yes. Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega,

Thus speaks the Lord our God

who is, and who was, and who is coming

the divine ruler of the world.

I, John, your brother and your companion in all trials and also in the inner kingdom and in the power of endurance which we possess through our one-ness with Jesus: I was on the island of Patmos. There it was granted to me to receive a share of the divine Word and to bear witness to the sufferings of Jesus.

On the Lord’s Day I was lifted up to the world of spirit, and I heard behind me a mighty voice like the sound of a trumpet. It said: write what you see in a book and send it to the seven congregations: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia and to Laodicia.

And I turned to see him whose voice was speaking to me. And as I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, a figure like that of the Son of Man:

clothed with a long billowing garment,

encircled round his breast with a golden band;

his head and his hair shining white like snow white wool,

his eyes like a flame of fire,

his feet like burnished bronze glowing in a furnace,

his voice like the rushing of many streams of water.

In his hand he held seven stars;

from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword

and his face shone, as the sun shines in its full radiance.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet and was as if dead. But he laid his right hand upon me and said: 

“Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am living and I bear the life of the world through all aeons. Mine is the key to the realm of death and of the shades. Write down what you see: what is now, and what is to come.

The secret of the seven stars, which you see in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the picture in the spirit for the angels of the seven congregations, and the seven lampstands are the seven congregations themselves.”

Artist Unknown

1st November Trinity

November 1, 2015

Revelation 1, 1-20

This reading gives us the image of Christ Jesus surrounded by golden lampstands. We are told that the lampstands represents seven congregations. This implies that one of the functions of a congregation is to provide light; perhaps the light of insight, or better, to be a kind of beacon, a light that beckons towards Christ in their midst.

Christ also holds seven stars in his right hand. We might infer that these stars are an image for the seven archangels who rule the various ages of time. They are the guiding stars of the congregations. Christ holds them all in his hand.

Michael, Arild Rosenkrantz

One could perhaps imagine that each of the lampstands of the assemblage of those from each time period humanity is led by a shining star of guidance.

The guiding archangel of our time is Michael, whose name is a question: Who is like God? With the image of Christ, the Son of Man, we have an answer: the one born out of death, shining, flaming gold like the sun, with the sword of the creative word of God issuing from his mouth. And he says to us, Do not be afraid. I bear the life of the world through all aeons.  And perhaps we can hear the voice of Michael echoing, telling us as a congregation to become like the image of the Son of Man: full of life in spite of death, creative, and radiant.


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