June Trinity
John 3: 1-17
There was a man in the circle of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus; he held high rank among the Jews. He came to Jesus in the night and said, “Master, we know that you are a high teacher of mankind, come to us from God, for no one can do such signs of the Spirit as you do unless God himself is working together with him in his deeds.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “The truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever is not born anew from above cannot behold the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he return to his mother’s womb to be born again a second time?
Jesus answered, “the truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever remains as he is, and does not come to a new birth out of the formative power of the water and out of the breath of the spirit [or, …and is not born anew out of the spiritual power of eternal becoming and out of being touched by the might of the spirit world] cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What is born out of earthly elements is of earthly nature. But what is born out of the breath of the spirit, is itself spirit. Do not wonder that I said to you that you must be born anew from above. The spirit wind blows where it will; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born anew out of the breath of the spirit.
Nicodemus replied and said to him, “How can one attain this?”
Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and do not know? Amen, the truth I say to you: we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen in the spirit, but none of you accepts our testimony. When I speak to you of earthly things and you do not believe them, how shall you believe when I want to speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ascended to the spiritual world who has not previously descended out of the spiritual world, that is, the Son of Man.
Just as Moses once lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who finds his power in their hearts can win a share in the higher life beyond time. God has so loved the world that he has given his only begotten Son. From now on, no one who fills himself with his power shall perish, for he will share in timeless, higher life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but in order that the world be saved [healed] through him, and not fall prey to ruin.”
1st June Trinity
June 11, 2017
John 3: 1-17
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| Pine Pollen |
Clouds of pollen rise into the upper atmosphere, to be inoculated with the living powers of the sunlight. The virgin queens of new hives ascend into the heights for their nuptials. When the pollen and the bees descend, they bring with them the possibility of new life.
Our lives, too, require an ascent. We offer the fragrance of our heart's prayers, our love, the purity of our thoughts, to Christ, the Sun-God, and His Father.
Our ascending heart offerings make it possible for the grace of a new kind of life to descend and to be born in us. This new life is born out of Christ's eternal capacity for becoming, developing, evolving. It is born out of the nuptials of the soul with humanity's Bridegroom. It is grace.
As Hafiz says,
…Now is the time for the world to know
hat every thought and action is sacred.
That this is the time
For you to compute the impossibility
That there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
That everything you do
Is sacred.*
*Hafiz ,"Now is the Time", in The Gift, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 160.
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