1st St. Johnstide 2019, Reality

St. Johnstide, 

John 3: 22-33 (adapted from Madsen)

St. John the Baptist Church in Jordan

After this, Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.

Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness – here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

Carolsfeld

“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who descends from above, out of the spiritual world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth, whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.

He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his testimony.

But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to this: that God is Truth[that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. 

1^st St. Johnstide

June 30, 2019

John 3:22-33

Pollen Cloud

At the peak of its development, the blossom releases its pollen into the air. The pollen rises toward the heights; the sunlight weaves its life into the pollen, which returns to the world of earth. It joins with other plants to form seeds that carry life into the future. It is important to note that when pollen grains soar, they do not return to their original flower. The invigorated pollen that enlivens a particular plant comes from somewhere else, possibly from far away.

Gratitude is the opening of our hearts, the blossoming of our souls. Warmly felt gratitude is an invisible spiritual substance that rises upward toward the Spirit Sun. His spirit light weaves into this substance of gratitude, enlivens and transforms it. Our gratitude returns to earth, transformed, as His power of light and life and love. Like pollen my prayers of gratitude, do not return to me; they enliven others. And it is the prayers of others that enliven me. Christ’s power in human hearts is what gives us all a future.

The Baptism of Christ, from Berry's Book of Hours 

Christ, the Spirit Sun, keeps His heart open toward the Father. For Him, the Father is His transforming sunlight. John, who announces Christ, is also connected to the Father’s Spirit. He too is surrounded by the Father’s love. John is a kind of human/angelic mediator, a messenger sent on ahead to announce Christ’s impending arrival. He would shake us awake. He bids us open our hearts, to stream forth gratitude, so that Christ may send his enlivening power into all of us, so that we may continue to live. 

“The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.” John 3:35

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