6th Easter 2019, Grace-Moments

6^th Easter

John 14: 1-31 adapted from Madsen

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Fatherly Ground of the World and to me. In my Father’s house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, how could I have said to you, ‘I go there to prepare a place for you’?  And when I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come again and take you up into the realm of my being and working, so that where I work, you also may work. And you know the way where I am going.” 

Then Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I myself am the Way—the Truth— and the Life. No one finds his way to the Father but through me. If you had really known my Being, you would have recognized my Father as well. From now on you do know him and have seen Him.”

Then Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father; that would satisfy our deepest yearning.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Does your heart’s voice not tell you that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. But the Father, who lives eternally in me, continues to do his works in them. Build your faith on the power of my Being that lets you know: I in the Father, the Father in me. Or at least learn to trust through looking at the works themselves that have arisen. 

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever trusts in my Being will also do the works that I do --and greater deeds will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask for in unity with me, I will do it, so that the deeds of the Father may be revealed in the working of the Son. When you turn to me in prayer in the power of my name, I will be the Creating One in all your works. If you truly love me, you will share in my spiritual goals. And I will ask the Father and He will send to you another Counselor, who will stand by you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth. The earthly world cannot receive this Counselor, for it cannot perceive his working and does not recognize him. But you know him, for he will live with you and will work in you.

I will not leave you desolate—I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. On that day, you will truly know what it means that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Whoever bears my spiritual goals within himself, and brings them to revelation in his working, is one who truly loves me. And whoever truly loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

Then Judas, (not the Iscariot) said, “But Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the people who are in the world?

Jesus replied, “Whoever truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will

love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. Whoever does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the health-bringing Spirit, the Counselor whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled nor let them be afraid.

You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am.

I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me.

But I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Do the same. Arise, let us be on our way.

6^th Easter

May 26, 2019

John 14: 1-31

Charon Ferrying the Dead, Alexander Lytovchenko

There can be many things in life that trouble us—economic insecurity, difficult individuals, illness. All of these things are minor key versions of the one big trouble, our deepest and most innate worry—the fear of death. For in death what we really fear is loss of our own self, and loss of dear ones.

This was indeed a valid fear in the time before Christ’s coming. For it was a true threat—humankind was losing its share in ongoing life. But since Christ’s death and resurrection, we need not fear being extinguished by death. For He has already died our death for us and has prepared a place for each of us to be in the afterworld. “Because I live,” He says, “you will live also,’ John 14:19

Yongsun Kim

We need only, again and again, try to follow his pathway of life.  He gives us the pathway on earth by which to follow Him: our love for Him will guide us.  He says, ‘Whoever bears my spiritual goals within himself and brings them to revelation in his working is the one who truly loves me.’ John 14:21

What are His goals?—that we come to trust in His power in our hearts; that we come to live our lives as an expression of our love for Him; that in loving trust we come to live in Him, the giver of Peace. In loving trust our hearts are peace-filled, even in the face of loss, of illness, or even of death. As Wendell Berry who lives close to the heart of nature says:

When despair grows in me

and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

….I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting for their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.*

Nature can give us grace-moments of peace. But Christ gives us the way to the truth of human life - he gives us a peace that comes from another world.

---

*Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things,” in The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Visit our Website!

5th Easter 2019, Master of the Game

5^th Easter

John 16, 1-33, adapted from Madsen

“All these words I have spoken to you so that you will not go astray [because you discover what destiny falls to you through being connected with me]. For they will exclude you from their communities, and the hour will come when those who kill you will think they are offering service to God. They will do all this because they have not known my Father or me. All these words I have spoken to you so that when the time comes you will remember that I told you about it. In the beginning, I did not need to say such things for I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me; yet, none of you asks me “Where are you going?”  Now that I have said these things to you, sorrow enters your heart.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I leave you, for if I did not go away, the Comforter, the giver of spirit courage, [who will stand by you in all trials, the Spirit upon whom you can call for assistance at any moment,] would not come to you. When I now  go away, I will send him to you. When he comes he will call mankind to account for the decline into sin, for the working of man’s higher being and for the great world separation; for the decline into sinfulness, because they did not fill themselves with my power; for the working of Man’s higher being, because I go to the Father and you see me no more; for the great world-separation, because the decision has already been made about the ruler of this world.

I have yet much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will be your guide on the way to the Truth that Embraces All. he will not speak out of himself, but what he hears he will speak, and he will proclaim to you what is to come.  he will reveal me, for what he draws out of my being he will proclaim to you. Everything that the Father has is also mine. That is why I can say, ‘He will draw upon my being and proclaim to you’.

Yet a short time you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me.”

Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying ‘Yet a short time you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me’, and ‘I am going to the Father’? They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a short time’? We do not understand his words.”

Bible moralisèe The Creation of Eve and The Birth of Ecclesia, 

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him and he said, “You are wondering that I said, ‘A short time and you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me.’  Yes, the truth I tell you, you will weep and lament while other people will rejoice. You will be filled with sorrow, but this your grief will be turned into joy. A woman giving birth must bear pain, for her difficult hour has come. But when the child is born, she no longer considers the anguish because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.

So it is with you. Now is your time of grief. But this your grief will become the power of Spirit-Birth, for I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and no one can take that joy from you. On that day, you will no longer need to ask me anything.

Yes, I say to you; from now on what you ask of the Father in my name, He will give to you. Until now, you have not been able to pray in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be full.

All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures but will tell you plainly about the Father, [so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness]. On that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the Father. I have come forth from the Father and I have come into this world. I am leaving the [sense] world again and going to the Father, [of which you say that it is the world of death].”

Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. By this, we believe that you came from God.”

Jesus answered, “Do you now feel my power in your heart? Behold, the time is coming and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to his own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me.

All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage. I have overcome the world.”

5^th Easter

May 19, 2019

John 16: 1 – 33

Devil's Mirror

There is a fairy tale that tells how the devil made a great world mirror, in which everything was distorted unrecognizably into its opposite. This mirror shattered into billions of pieces, and specks flew into people’s eyes. It made them see the wrong side of things. If the specks penetrated into their hearts, their hearts turned to ice.*

In today’s reading from before his resurrection, Christ feels compassion for the disciple’s hearts; for his impending crucifixion will activate such the mirror shards and, for a while, things will not appear to them as they truly are. But He also promises that this condition will be temporary. For, after a short time, He will send a Healer who will remove the specks and show them the Truth. Their vision will be healed of its ills. Although each of them will only see from a certain angle, from a partial perspective, they will indeed see truly.

We human beings are all partial. We are on a path of evolution toward greater wholeness, toward alignment with the greater and great levels of Truth. Moments of suffering and moments of enlightenment follow each other in greater spirals. For, in the words of St. John of the Cross,

If

you were playing chess with someone who

had infinite power and infinite knowledge

and wanted to make you a

master of the game,

where would all the chess

pieces be at every

moment?

Indeed, not only where he wanted them,

but where all were best for your

development;

and that is every situation

of one’s

life.**

*Hans Christian Anderson, “The Snow Queen”.

**St. John of the Cross, “Development", in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 322.

Visit our website!

4th Easter 2019, Earth, Beloved

4^th Easter

John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me and I in you.

Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does

not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.

These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.

No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.

You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.

If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.

Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.

If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning.4^th Easter

May 12, 2019

John 15:1-27

Grapevines can live hundreds of years. Those caring for the vines remove the rank leafy growth. This encourages the vine’s energy to be concentrated and multiplied in the fruit. The roots descend thousands of feet, drawing up water from deep in the earth. In the fruit, earth’s water is transformed into mineral-rich, sweet, nourishing juice through the power of the sun.

Our lives too are rooted in the earth. We draw life, strength, and nourishment from her. Our task too, is cultivation, cultivation of the earth, cultivation of our own souls. We ourselves, or the Father’s angels guiding our destiny, will remove what is useless. For we are meant to transform substance of earth into fruits of pure spirit-awareness, into loving devotion.

Christ called Himself the True Vine, the Living Being of whom we are all branches. He has rooted Himself deep in the earth. He transforms work of earth into work of spirit. We, as His branches, are to concentrate and multiply His life energy into the fruitfulness of our own lives, our own souls. We are to be the bearers of His work of transformation.

When Christ’s fruit, our fruit is ripe, the angels will gather the clusters from the earth’s vine. (Rev 14:18) What will they do with the earth’s harvest? They will press out juice to become the blood of a new kind of human being, the water of a new kind of earth.

For as Rilke says:

Earth, is it not this that you want: to rise

invisibly in us? – Is that not your dream,

to be invisible, one day? – Earth! Invisible!

What is your urgent command if not transformation?

Earth, beloved, I will.*

---

*Rilke, from 9th Duino Elegy

Visit our website!

3rd Easter 2019, The Great Gatekeeper

3^rd Easter

John 10: 1-21 adapted from Madsen

“Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, he is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.

When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

Yongsun Kim

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, he sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling and he cares nothing for the sheep.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.

Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.

3^rd Easter

May 5, 2019

John 10: 1-21

Some establishments have a person stationed at the door. They give a friendly greeting to whoever belongs there. And if necessary, they keep out the undesirable elements or at least keep an eye on them.

We ourselves also have such a doorkeeper. It is positioned at the boundaries of our selves. It helps us distinguish ‘me’ from ‘not me’. It decides if those who want to enter our lives, our souls, are there for a legitimate purpose, or whether they are ‘thieves and robbers’, that is, those who would steal our treasures: our time, our energy, our resources. A strong and discerning gatekeeper is not long deceived by appearances or empty promises.

William Hunt Holman

This gatekeeper is our ‘I’, our Self. Its task is to pay attention and to make decisions. But sometimes it is distracted, or just plain asleep on the job. And as we all know, its decisions are fallible.

Christ is humankind’s Greater Self. He has nothing but our own truly best interests in mind. He models how all respectful human beings should interact: ‘Here I am, he says. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in….’ Rev. 3:20

His voice resonates in the deepest part of our being. And he waits respectfully for us to pay attention, and to decide to open. And when we do, he says ‘I will come in… and eat with that person, and they with me.’ He brings our souls guidance, nourishment, and strength. He is the Great Gatekeeper, watching out for us, guiding us all.

Visit our website!