4th or 5th November Trinity
The end of Revelations 22: 12-21
“Watch, I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me so as to give to each person what his deeds amount to. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the goal.”
Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life, which overcomes death, and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside shall remain those who are bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers, who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify their true being.
“I, Jesus, sent my angel to report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning”.
And the Spirit and the Bride, the Holy City, say, “Come!
And may he who hears also say, “Come!” And may the thirsty come, and may everyone who wants it get to drink the Water of Life freely, as grace.
Everyone who hears can find his inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead him to full knowledge through the trials of destiny which are written in this book.
And whoever diminishes the words of this prophecy, God will remove from him his share in the Tree of Life that overcomes death, and his share in the Holy City written about in this book.
He who lends these words their power says:
“Yes, I am coming quickly!”
Yea, so be it. Amen:
Come, Jesus our Lord
The grace of the Lord Jesus, be with you all!
4th November Trinity
November 19, 2017
Rev. 22: 12 – 21
Life on earth unfolds itself in cyclic rhythms. In the fall, just where the leaf is attached to the branch, the new buds for next year’s growth are already formed. The new life pushes the old leaves off the branch. They fall to earth to help form the soil. The buds, still tightly closed, over-winter and unfold the following spring. This is a cycle of apparent destruction, but also the expression of an eternal hope. New life forms within the destruction of the old.
Today’s gospel reading from the end of the entire Apocalypse, stresses this same pattern in cosmic time: the destruction of what is no longer capable of life, in service of what is moving into the future.
The picture is given of a crowd of people in white. They are in a monumental realm in the world of spirit, a city, wherein stands a living tree that overcomes the death process. One can imagine this as the World Tree. Some myths picture it with leaves of sun-gold and moon silver, sparkling with star-diamond fruit. In the midst of this radiant tree, we may discern the human form of the wounded Sun-God, he who overcame death, arms outspread in a universal embrace of love.
The Selfless Self, the I AM, through His blood flowing from the tree of the cross,
rid human blood of the excess of selfish human egotism. He resurrected the diamond of Divine Self as pure sacrificial love for all. He invites us to join him in the creation of cosmic fruit.
Just as last year’s leaves fall away, so also must our leaves and layers of egotism be shed. They had their necessary time in human evolution, but now no longer serve. To join Him, we strip ourselves of the negative aspects of having an ego. We work to free ourselves from our enslavement to the lower senses. We struggle to rid ourselves of the desire to exercise power over others through self-assertion. We struggle to rid ourselves of the killing impulses contained in the aggression and hatred in our words and deeds. We turn to the world in interest and love.
This is the work of cleansing the garment of selfhood. This is the work that overcomes the cross of the death-force that we are all obliged to carry. It takes some effort to turn our interest and attention outward, away from ourselves. It takes creativity to put ourselves lovingly in service to others. This creativity around the good is what generates the budding new life for the next cycle. This creativity cleanses the garment of our egohood, and helps the wounded Divine Human create the diamond fruit of the future on the cosmic Tree of Life.
