1st November Trinity 2016, Fire of Creative Love

1st November Trinity

Bowyer Bible

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

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,

artist unknown

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.”

1st November Trinity

October 30, 2016

Revelation 1, 1-20

Grunewald

We move into the dark time, toward the company of those who have died. The border between their world and ours becomes thin. And so we can more easily sense their presence. For our deceased loved ones still love us, are still united with us. Especially when we remember them, when we think of them in gratitude, they can be with us. They can continue to enrich our lives and perhaps even gently guide us.

Chief among those who have died and yet still live is Christ, the first-born in the realm of the dead. He is our ever-beloved, still alive in death, ever with us. We think of his ever-living presence so that He can be with us, enriching our souls, gently guiding us.

He is the ever-born Life, radiant with the light of the sun, blazing with the fire of creative love. He is our leader in the realm across the threshold of death. He is our guide in our congress with those who have crossed that threshold before us. The world beyond is no longer dark, for He who is the Light of Worlds now lives and works there.

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4th Michaelmas 2016, Loyal

2nd 3rd or 4th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19, 11-16

And I saw the heavens opening up. And behold, a white horse! And the rider who sat upon it is called faithful and true, who judges justly and battles for justice. His eyes are like flames of fire, and his head wears many crowns, inscribed with a name which no one knows but he himself. The cloak that covers him has been dipped in blood, and he is known by the name “Word of God”.

And the warriors of the sky ride behind him upon white steeds, clad in clean, white linen. And he has a sharp-edged sword coming out of his mouth with which to subdue the nations, and he will shepherd them with a staff of iron. He treads on the winepress holding the wine of the wrath of the will of God, the ruler of all.

And written on his cloak and on his thigh is the name: King of all kings, Lord of all lords.

2nd 3rd or 4th Michaelmas Sunday

October 23, 2016

Revelation 19, 11-16

Here in the North, we are descending into the cold and dark time of the year. Yet as we cross the threshold into darkness, an image lights up. It is an image of light and fire, painted in colors of red, white and gold. The white horse, and white linens, the red of blood and wine, the gold of flame and crowns.

Like the woman clothed with the sun, this too is an image of humanity. It is the image of an ever enlarging humanity led by the rider in white, wearing the many crowns of nations and of lives.

He is a leader who reigns from within the body. He rides the white horse of a purified intelligence. He will cover us with the white linen of his truth and justice. His staff of iron will strengthen our blood and our inner resolves, pressing out all of our selfishness and greed.

He is faithful, loyal to his own mission of helping humanity. He leads us in our battle against the adversaries of our true human nature. The very colors express our true humanity: the white of clear pure thinking, the gold of a loving heart, the red of a will devoted to God and to humanity. He leads. He asks us to follow. 

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3rd Michaelmas 2016, Mature Enough

2nd 3rd or 4th Michaelmas

Revelation 12: 1-17

Edward Robert Hughes

And a momentous image was unveiled in the world of spirit: a woman, clothed with the radiant power of the sun, the moon under her feet, her head adorned with the crown of the twelve stars of heaven. And she is with child and cries out in the labor and pain of giving birth.

And at the same time, a second image was revealed in the heavens: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its head, it has seven crowns and its tail is sweeping a third of all the stars in heaven and dashing them onto the earth. And the dragon is standing before the woman about to give birth, so that when she bears the child he can devour it. And she bore a child, a son ”who would shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.” And the woman’s child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place that God keeps ready there so that they can take care of her for days numbering one thousand two hundred sixty.

Durer

And a war flared up in the spirit world. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought in the midst of his own angels, but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Down came the dragon, the giant, the serpent, the evil one called both Satan and the devil, deceiver of all the world. Onto the earth he came hurtling down, and all his angels with him.

And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying:

Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—

The power to heal the world,

The power to transform all being,

The power to draw everything into godly being.

Arisen is the spirit leadership of his Christ.

Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,

He who accused them night and day before the countenance of God.

They have overcome him through the blood and the sacrificial power of the Lamb

And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.

They did not love their own lives too dearly, nor did they fear death.

Mengs

Therefore, rejoice you heavens

And all who lodge therein!

But woe to the earth and the sea:

For the Adversary has come down to you,

And he seethes with measureless fury,

For he knows that his time is short.

And when the dragon recognized that he had been cast onto the earth, he began to persecute the

woman who had borne the son. Then the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly into the desert to her appointed place, where she is to be nourished for a cycle of time, for cycles of time, and for half a cycle of time, far from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent opened his mouth and spewed out a river of water after the woman so she would be swept off her feet by the river. But then the earth came to the woman’s assistance; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon spewed from his mouth. And the dragon burned with fury against the woman. He stormed away to make war on the rest of the woman’s seed, people who keep to the divine world aims and who are united with the destiny and witnessing of Jesus. As I saw this I was standing on the sandy shore of the sea.

Apocalyptic Seal

2nd 3rd or 4th Michaelmas

October 16, 2016

Revelation 12: 1-17

Today's reading is an image of the current state of the soul of humanity. Her true nature is to radiate loving-kindness, like the sun which bestows life on all. She is crowned with high starry ideals. And she stands firmly on the generative forces of the moon. Humanity's soul is laboring to give birth to its Son, the true I AM of humanity, the Christ in us.

Yet she is threatened by the dragon of fiery passions, a dragon of an overbearing and ultimately destructive intellectual capacity. Her child is protected by God. She herself, humanity's soul, has been given the elevating eagle wings of greater vision. She is helped by the absorbing capacity of the earth. Yet she must still suffer persecution and isolating loneliness.

Collot d'Herbois

This is a picture for our time. We sense that we need to love all; we are inspired by ideals and by the capacity to generate the new. Yet we are beset by evil beings intent upon destruction. We experience both increasing levels of awareness and increasing loneliness.

At the same time we have the assurance that though we suffer, our love for the divine, our awareness of the truth of our ideals, our love for the earth, and our insight will bring about the birth of Christ within humanity. For the divine, and its capacity to heal the world and its ills, its powers of transformation, are now also operating from a clear and strong space . The dragon has been cast out. He has been thrown down to us. This is because humanity is now strong enough, mature enough, protected enough to withstand him.

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2nd Michaelmas, Three Christ-Powers

Archangel Michael, Schongauer

2nd 3rd or 4th Michaelmas

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19

What it comes to in the end is this: grasp the power that streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength.

Put on the power of God as one puts on full armor, so that you may stand against the well-aimed attacks of the adversary. For our struggle is not to fight against powers of flesh and blood, but 

  

against spirit beings mighty in the stream of time,

  against spirit beings powerful in the molding of earth substance,

  against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the present time,

  against spirits who carry evil into the realms of the spiritual world.

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand your ground on the day when evil unfolds its greatest strength, and victoriously withstand it.

Stand firm, then, girded with the truth, like a warrior firmly girded. Connect yourself with all in the world as is justified in the spiritual world, and this connection with the spirit will protect you like a strong breastplate.

And may Peace stream through you, down to your feet, so that on your path you spread peace, as the message that comes from the realm of the angels.

In all your deeds have trust in God. This trust will be like a mighty shield; with it, you can quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take into your thinking the certainty of Christ’s healing deed. It will protect your head like a helmet.

And the spirit, which has become living in you, you shall grasp as one grasps a sharp sword. The sword of the spirit is the working of the Word of God.

May this armor clothe you in all your prayers and supplications, so that in the right moment you raise yourself in prayer to the spirit, and at the same time practice wakefulness in inner loyalty.

Feel yourself united in prayer with all other bearers of the spirit—also with me, Paul, so that the power of the word will be given to me when I am to courageously bring the knowledge of that holy mystery which lives in the message of the gospel.

2^nd, 3rd or 4th Michaelmas

Memling

October 11, 2016

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19

"Grasp the power that streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength."

What is the power that streams to us in the experience of Christ in the soul? His power is three-fold:

It is the power to think the truth; to think thoughts that are true, that are in consonance not only with earthly reality but also with higher spiritual realities. The power of Christ in the soul heals us from the cognitive distortions of unhealthy, untrue thoughts.

Christ's power in the soul is also the power to feel a connection not only with what is beautiful and noble, but also to make peace with earthly reality, with what is. We are to absorb Christ's attitude: I stand at peace with the world, he says. And he gives us this peace so that we can spread peace out into the world. His Peace is to invade our whole being, down to our feet, so that the way we walk in the world spreads peace on the path.

And Christ's third power allows us to act with uprightness and in right relationship to the earth and all its inhabitants. We can do so, not by putting our faith in a static, absolute good, but by trusting in the ultimate victory of an ever-evolving goodness.

A well-known verse by Rudolf Steiner shows us this power of Christ that we can actively take in hand:

To wonder at beauty,

Memling

Stand guard over truth,

Look up to the noble,

Resolve on the good.

This leadeth us truly

To purpose in living,

To right in our doing,

To peace in our feeling,

To light in our thinking.

And teaches us trust,

In the working of God,

In all that there is,

In the width of the world,

In the depth of the soul.*

*Rudolf Steiner, in Wahrspruchsworte, GA 40, page 324.

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