4th Passiontide 2018, Palm Sunday, Christ Light

4^th Passiontide

Palm Sunday

Matthew 21: 1-11

Lippi Memmo

And they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage by the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples ahead and said to them, “Go to the village which you see before you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there and her foal with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will let you take them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

‘Say to the daughter of Zion,

Behold, your king comes to you in majesty.

Gentle is He, and He rides on a donkey and on a foal of the beast of burden.’

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the foal, placed their garments on them, and Jesus sat on them.

           

Many out of the large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of them and followed Him shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the Name and Power of the Lord!

Hosannah in the highest! [Sing to Him in the highest heights!]

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is he?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

4th Passiontide, Palm Sunday

March 25, 2018

Matthew 21: 1-20

Entry into Jerusalem, Ninetta Sombart

Spring, new birth in nature; the tender wonders of youth and love; sunrise, the beginning of a new day; in these our souls rejoice.

Yet these are not the whole story, for every spring has its corresponding autumn. Every sunrise has its sunset. Every birth moves toward inevitably toward a death. Together these create a necessary balance, the whole of reality.

The crowd rejoices as they perceive the sparks scintillating from the God of the Sun. They feel the surge of spring; in an ecstasy of joy, they lay before Him the branches of the sun-tree, the palm.

Yet Christ moves through their wild joy in calm solemnity. He is moving resolutely toward His own autumn; for the sun of his human life is about to set.

Yet His death will reverse the old pattern. His death will bring about a new birth; the birth of a new kind of sun; a sun that shines steadily, a spirit sun that never sets. He rises on a Sunday to become the first born from the realm of the dead. (Rev. 1:5) He is the bright star that shines in the morning. (Rev. 22:16)

It is our heart’s deepest desire to find the spirit sun here on earth; to find and follow the light that shines in the darkness in solemn joy; to behold the Christ light in our daylight.

3rd Passiontide 2018, Dark Woods

3rd Passiontide

March 18, 2018

John 8: 1-12

Halfway through his life, the poet Dante finds himself in a dark forest, not quite knowing how he got there. He is threatened by three beasts who impede his path. In his despair, he appeals to one who guides him further along his way by offering to take him along another path.

We too, sometimes find ourselves ‘in a dark wood’, not quite knowing how we got there, lost and imperiled. If someone were to approach and judge us, criticize us for being hopelessly lost, it would not help—we already know that. What we need is a guide who takes us under his care and shows us another path, a way through.

Christ did not come to earth to pronounce judgment on human lives. By becoming human, he came to understand the human condition from the inside. He came to offer his strength, his clarity, his guidance. He can extend our clouded vision. He can help us recognize that we need to take another path, go in another direction. To the soul who had adulterated her true life’s path, he said, ‘Go. Go elsewhere; walk another path that does not send you to the beasts’.

For us too, Christ appears in our extreme need. He comes to give life’s light to us. Christ is here as a guide. He is here as light along the path in the darkness in which we all walk. In the words of Hafiz:

God

pours light

into every cup,

quenching darkness.

The proudly pious

stuff their cups with parchment

and critique the taste of ink

while God pours light

. . .  

pours like rain

into every empty cup

set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.*

2nd Passiontide 2018, Ground Under our Feet

2^nd Passiontide

March 11, 2018

John 6: 16 - 26

When evening came, his disciples went

Aivasovsky

down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off over the sea for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "I AM, have no fear" Now when they wanted to take him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land, at the place where they wanted to go.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, the truth I say to you: You are seeking me not because you saw signs of spiritual power, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied.

2^nd Passiontide

March 11, 2018

John 6: 16 - 26

Aivasovsky

We are in rough waters. The wind of events are howling; the seas of emotions are running high. We are making efforts toward our goals, but are being pushed back. Fear is rising.

This is the moment when our hearts can call on our awareness of the spirit. We know that there is an over-arching divine consciousness. Our awareness of the trust, and the radiance of love. For we have eaten of the bread and were satisfied.'

spirit becomes a Presence; it can itself be terrifying at first. But in compassion, the Presence says: Fear not. I AM. And immediately we are at our goal. We find the ground under our feet. We experience calm

The heart’s song did not sound in vain,

for many now can hear again

the word of angels: Do not fear!

New light and sound in us appear

for strengthened heart and wakened ear.*

*Lent Song, German folk song, translation from Camphill

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1st Passiontide 2018, Our True Self

First Passiontide
Luke 11: 14-35

Jesus was driving out a demon from a man who was mute. And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man

Ottheinrich Folio

who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” Others sought to test him by asking for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against house. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? And you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now if I were to drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers do it? Therefore, they shall be your judges.
        
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, it follows that the kingdom of God has already come to you.
        
When a strong man in full armor guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted, and divides it up as spoils.

He who does not unite with my being is against me, and he who does not gather in inner composure with me [work for inner composure with me] scatters.

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it wanders through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it says, ‘I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.” When it returns to this dwelling it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that man. And his final state is worse than the first.”

As he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you.”

But he said, “Truly blessed are those who hear the divine word in their hearts and tend it there.”

1^st Passiontide
March 4, 2018
Luke 11: 14 – 35

Dig a hole deep enough and

eventually you will find water. On the beach near the tideline, the hole fills immediately. Further inland you have to dig deeper.  If you want to use the water, you have to keep the well clear of debris, and keep drawing the water up.

Our capacities of thought and speech are some of the hallmarks of our being human. In today’s gospel reading, the adversarial spirit is hindering the man from the expression of his full humanity. It is Christ who removes this hindrance.  One can imagine the event in the words of the poet:

At the spring
we hear the great seas traveling
underground,
giving themselves up
with tongues of water
that sing the earth open.
 …
We have stories
as old as the great seas
breaking through the chest,
flying out the mouth,
noisy tongues that once were silenced,
all the oceans we contain
coming to light.[1]

But driving out a hindering spirit leaves a hole, a space in the human constitution. And Christ makes it clear that just being rid of the spirit is only a first step. What will be drawn into the now empty space?
Christ removes the opposing spirit in order to make a space for our true self, who is Himself. Yet he does not impose Himself. He waits to be invited, to be drawn in. When we invite Him, He says, ‘Truly blessed are those who hear the divine word in their heart and tend it there.’ Luke 11:28 We need only keep the well free of debris and keep drawing the Living Water.

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[1] Linda Hogan, “To Light” in Seeing Through the Sun

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