3rd Advent 2007, Dawn Chorus

3rd Advent

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal. 

Elisabeth Carolan

3^rd Advent Sunday

December 16, 2007

1 Thessalonians 5.1-8, 23, 24

If at the right time of year one were to awaken well before dawn, say at 4 a.m., and go out into a wooded area, one would experience one of nature’s wonders: a symphony of birdsong, call and response, heralding the coming of the sun. Each bird is already awake; together they are the choir hailing the breaking of a new day.

We are now in the darkness of deep earth-night. But we are approaching a new dawn. Though it is yet dark, Paul urges us to be awake as we prepare to accompany the coming of the Day-Star. We are to be alert and sober in self-control. Through the closeness of the light of His return, our being aware of the coming light will fill us with an overflowing abundance of heart’s love. Loving kindness will spill out of our hearts like birdsong before dawn. Our thoughts are to be filled with the sure hope of healing that comes to mankind through the nearness of Christ. We will become those of warm and active good will. As we work together for Christ, in His light, earth itself will be healed.

Stones are longing for what you know…

Now awake, dear pilgrim…

Now awake with your love for the Friend and Creation….

We are companions on this earth

As the sun and planets are in the sky….

This love you now have of the Truth

Your joys and sufferings on this arduous path

Are lifting your worn veil like a rising stage curtain…

So that you can guide this world…

In the hidden Choir

God and His friends will forever

Conduct.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Hafiz, “They Call You to Sing,” in Tonight the Subject is Love, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 42.

3rd Advent 2008, Living Green

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal. 

3^rd Advent Sunday

December 14, 2008

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-8, 23, 24

The arrival of storms darkens the skies. But there are moments when the ever-present sunlight breaks through. And then, if we look for it, the rainbow with its seven colors glistens against the backdrop of darkness.

In ancient India, the god Indra used the rainbow to slay the serpent demon god. Later, in the Gilgamesh epic, the rainbow’s colors glisten in the fountain of life beside the tree of Immortality. And of course in Hebrew tradition, Jahwe places the rainbow spanning the heavens as a promise of future salvation.

The rainbow’s placement in the sky, and our delight in its ethereal colors make it seem more related to the human soul than to the earth. In the soul there also lives a rainbow of many colors. The outermost color, red, is the color of loving warmth, of courage, and of strength of will. At the other side, the innermost color is a barely visible royal purple, the color of the regal heights that the human being can and will attain in the future. It is the color of our innermost trust and faith in what is to come.

The Transfiguration

And in the center, at the heart of the rainbow, is the living green, the color of balance and of hope, the color of the Christ.  Our souls move through the colors. Starting with Christ’s living, balanced hope of green we can move out into the world with love and courage. And we can also move from hope’s green toward the inner depths from which our souls evolve toward the future. We will make it; we will move into the future; we will evolve. The rainbow is the seal of God’s promise.  For planted in the deep purple of the soul are the seeds of our future selves. In patient trust we can know that one day these seeds of our future humanity will sprout into the living green of the tree of immortality.

God placed the rainbow in the sky to remind all of mankind to abide in hope, especially in dark stormy times. The rainbow of the soul conquers the dragon of fear. And sometimes, up in the sky, we can all catch a glimpse of the colored halo of Him who was, who is, and who is to come.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

3rd Advent 2009, Birthing Christ

3rd Advent

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

Sulamith Wulfing

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal.

3^rd Advent

Sulamith Wulfing

December 13, 2009

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-8 and 23, and 24

 “When people say, ‘Now peace reigns and all stands secure’, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child….” 1Thessalonians 5:3

Since the beginning of mankind, the birth of the new has been accompanied by pain. The Lord said to Eve, the mother of all life, that in pain she would bring forth children.  Genesis 4:16. This is usually heard as a curse, a punishment; but if we were to think about it a bit further, we may come to hear it rather as a promise: that pain will bear fruit. When we are in pain, we are also in the process of bringing something, someone, to birth.  When pain and catastrophe break into our lives, what is it that is trying to be born?

What is trying to be born is the Light, the Daylight of Christ. This is the Light that nourishes and supports life; it is the Light of His Love. His Light of Love shines before us on our path, showing us the way toward wholeness and healing.

This is the birth toward which we are all laboring. To help us to do so, we surround ourselves, clothe our hearts, in trust and in love. We keep our thoughts directed toward the goal of humankind’s wholeness and healing. We concentrate, attend to the birth of the Christ in us, through us. For humanity is the woman giving birth to the Christ. 

3rd Advent 2011, The Sun Orb Sings

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal. 

3^rd Advent Sunday

December 11, 2011

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 and 23, 24

The Sun’s radiance moves across the sky over the course of the year.

Sometimes it rides higher, sometimes lower. But with stately and steadfast grace, it inscribes itself across our world, shedding its daily blessings of light and life, to warm and nourish us.

The Advent seasonal prayer speaks of the sun’s chariot. This phrase is not only a lovely metaphor for a ball of gas millions of miles away. For the sun that we see in the sky is indeed a chariot, a chariot for higher angelic beings. Through the constant and continual sacrificing of their substance, they keep the sun and the world alive. They sacrifice their wisdom, their movement and their power to keep us and the earth, the body of Christ, alive. They pour out the substance of their being as a continuous song of praise.

The poet Goethe has the archangel Raphael, the angel of healing sing:

The sun-orb sings, in emulation,

Mid brother spheres, in his ancient round:

His path predestined through Creation

He ends with step of thunder-sound.

The angels from his visage splendid

Draw power, whose measure none can say;

The lofty worlds, uncomprehended,

Are bright as on the earliest day.[1]

The gospel reading reminds us that we are sons and daughters of the light, of the day. We are protected from darkness and lack of consciousness by our alertness, by our hope of healing, by our trust. For the great Sun-God is once again drawing near.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] W. Goethe, Faust Part 1.

3rd Advent 2012, Birthing Trust

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal. 

3^rd Advent

December 16, 2012

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 and 23, 24

Birth of the Light, Roland Tiller

The darkness of night hides what is happening on earth. And the darkness of our unawareness hides processes that may be gestating quietly below the surface. And just as the inevitable rising of the sun reveals the myriad majesties of the earth, so too does the rising light of the Christ-Sun work to reveal our secret selves, what we are laboring to become, whether for good or for ill.

Today’s reading suggests that there are processes in the world that are generating what appear to be catastrophes. Yet Paul compares them to the inexorable onset of a pregnant woman’s labor, which heralds a new birth.

So also are there such events in our souls. There are seeming catastrophes in our lives that may have been gestating quietly beneath the surface of our awareness. Yet even here, something wants to be born in us through such events. What wants to be born is our awareness and trust in a beneficent Providence; an admiration and love for our own God-given destiny; a compassionate love for the destinies of others; and a healing of our destinies through the pangs of conscience.

The trials we undergo are the labor pangs we must endure so that Christ, the Lord of our human Destiny, can dwell in us; so that the Being of Love can be born in us; so that through us, He can work His Peace into the world.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

3rd Advent 2013, Promise

3rd Advent 

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal.

3^rd Advent

December 15, 2013

1 Thessalonians 5, 1-8, 23, 24

The Advent prayers speak of the chariot of the sun, whose path inscribes an arc in the heavens. The mention of a chariot implies a Being that travels in it. In myth He is called Helios. He daily rises from the edge of the world, dispelling the darkness. He sets into the darkness at the end of the day, to rise again, moving time forward.

The prayers also speak of the bow of color, which also inscribes an arc in the skies. In mythology she is called Iris, the messenger of the gods. The interplay of light and darkness, of water and air, of Helios and Earth, create Iris the many colored rainbow. Her message has always been a promise; she brings hope.

Our deepest hope is that one day, Heaven and earth will become one; that the wounds of worlds will be healed; that love and peace will reign because Helios and Earth’s sons and daughters will hear Iris’s message. Her message continuously calls us, invites us to work on the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. All of creation is waiting for us. As the poet Mary Oliver says in a poem called “The Fist”, in Thirst:

Sulamith Wulfing

There are days

when the sun goes down

like a fist,

though of course

if you see anything

in the heavens this way

you had better get

your eyes checked

or, better still,

your diminished spirit.

The heavens

have no fist,

or wouldn't they have been

shaking it

for a thousand years now,

and even longer than that,

….

Instead: such patience!

Such willingness

to let us continue!

To hear,

little by little,

the voices -

only, so far, in

pockets of the world -

suggesting the possibilities

of peace?

Keep looking.

Behold, how the fist opens

with invitation.

www.thechristiancommunity.org