4th November Trinity
Revelation 21: 9 -27
And there came to me one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls filled with the last seven plagues of the world; and he spoke with me and said, “Come, I will show you the eternal Feminine, the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
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.
4th November Trinity
November 20, 2016
Revelation 21: 9 -27
This is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, and so it is fitting that we look toward our goal, toward what will definitely appear at the end of earth evolution. What John sees is a beautiful city. A city is constructed by human effort and creativity. The New Jerusalem, the City of Peace, is not a material city. It is a vast and ordered time/space, transparent and shining with life. It is created out of the spiritual values and shining revelations of all the nations of the world.
The spiritual gemstones for the foundations of the city will have been mined from the spiritual and moral work of hard-won virtue.
The gateways, the openings into this vast human/spiritual creation are made of pearl. When a grain of sand enters an oyster, it is not expelled. Rather, it is endured. The creature produces layer after layer of lustrous substance to transform this pain into a shining thing of beauty. 
The portals into the beautiful spirit city, the gates of pearl, are always open. They are the achievement of human suffering rightly endured. We are reassured that all our pain, all of our losses and suffering are meant to become openings into a place of peace. They lead us to a place of light, a place of triumphant joy, where the bejeweled soul of humanity weds her Bridegroom. 