2nd Trinity I, 7th Sunday before Easter 2021

 

Feb. Trinity I

(7^th Sunday before Easter, Sunday before Ash Wednesday)

Luke 18:18-27, 31-34

 

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, "Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?"

Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments—you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!" 

He said, "All these I have observed strictly from my youth." 

When Jesus heard this, he said,

Hoffman

"One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me! 

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, "What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!" 

Those who heard this said, "Who then can be saved?" 

He said, "For humans alone, it is impossible. It will be possible, however, through the power of God working in them."

… 

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, "Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, but on the third day he will rise up from the dead." 

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

2^nd February Trinity

February 14, 2021

Luke 18:18-27, 31-34 

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are

looking forward to the richness of spring and summer's fullness; but below the equator, autumn and winter are approaching. This is a picture of a great truth on the soul level: Like the whole of the earth, over the whole of a lifetime, no matter what our riches, we must pass through loss and death to arrive at a new life. 

This is brought home to the rich young man in the gospel reading. He is rich, both inwardly and outwardly; he is in the summer of his development.  But Christ is asking him to take the next step—a step into an autumn shedding, the step into a winter sleep. He is to become a Lazarus, one who leaves behind a topside wealth for the good of others and lays down his life. 

At this moment in the gospel, the young man is very sadꟷhe already experiences the grief of loss. But in following Christ, he will be called forth to a whole new level of being. His loss and death will be real and complete. But so will be his completely new and unforeseen lifeꟷfor Christ will intimately and continuously accompany his further developmentꟷthrough loss and death, and into a further life. 

Mary Oliver says: 

Every year

everything

I have ever learned

 

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

 

is salvation

….

To live in this world

 

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

 

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.*

 

*Mary Oliver, "In Blackwater Woods."

 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd February Trinity 2020, Quiet Seeds

2^nd February Trinity

Luke 8:4-15

And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he spoke in a parable:

A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path. It was trodden upon, and the birds of the sky (air) ate it up. Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it (the sprouting green) withered because it had no moisture. Yet other seed fell under the thorns; the thorns grew with it and choked what came up. And some fell upon good soil, grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. When he had said these things, he called out:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean. And he said:

“To you, it has been given the gift of being able to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the others, it is given in pictures and parables, for they see and do not yet see, and hear, although they do not yet understand with their thinking. The meaning of the parable is this:

The seed is the Word of God. That which fell upon the path are those who hear it; afterward, the tempter comes and tears the Word out of their hearts so that they cannot find healing through the trusting power of faith working in them.

Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, take it up with joy; but they remain without root. For a while, the power of their faith works in them, but in times of trial, they fall away.

What fell under the thorns are those who hear the Word from the spirit, and as they go on their way, the sorrows and the riches and the joys of life choke it, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

And the seeds that fell in the good soil are those who hear the Word, and take it up into their hearts, feel its beauty, become noble and worthy and patiently keep it alive, tending it there until it brings forth fruit.

2^nd February Trinity

February 16, 2020

Luke 8: 4-15

Charles Andrade

Imagine a potted plant you could only view from a distance. How could you tell if it were a living plant or an artificial one? You could observe it over time. Does it grow and blossom? Does it change?

The Gospel says that Jesus uses agricultural images especially for the souls who stream to him from the city. These plant images are the most accurate for describing how the living seed of the Word of God changes and grows over time. So He uses images from the realm of living processes to describe how the Word of God lives and grows in the soul.

The life realm of the plants is a quiet realm. We don’t hear flowers open to a fanfare of trumpets. We don’t perceive a great symphonic flourish when fruit ripens. The living Word of God is as quiet as a seed. The very loudness of

modern life with its sorrows and riches and joys may distract us to the point where our souls can no longer provide the depth and richness, the fertility for the germination and growth of His Word.

We need to tend the field of our own souls. We need to till the ground of the heart, perhaps through suffering, certainly through attention and selfless deeds. We need to water the ground of the heart with our tears, warm it with our prayers, let shine the clear sunlight of our spiritual learning and understanding. We need to take in the seed of God’s Word and treasure it in our hearts. We need to protect it and nourish it in the womb of the soul so that it grows and develops there.

We can grow God in our hearts. We do this so that His Word can mature and ripen into a fruitfulness that we can offer to the world of earth and the world of the angels. God’s Word - as it quietly speaks in the Gospels, as it is imaged in nature, as it speaks through human destinies – God’s word resounds and manifests in the world through us. We can grow and carry God wherever we go. We can be the place where His Word becomes manifest, grows and transforms.

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2nd February Trinity 2019, Generous

February Trinity

Matthew 20: 1-16

But many who are last will be first, and many who are first will be last. The kingdom of the heavens is like a man, the master of his house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Agreeing to pay them one denarius a day, he sent them out into his vineyard.

At about 9 o’clock he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go also into my vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.” So, they went. He went out again at about noon and at 3 o’clock and did the same. At 5 o’clock he went out and found others standing there, and he said to them, “Why do you stand here all day idle?” They said, “Because no one has hired us.” He said, “You, too, go into the vineyard.”

Burnand

And when evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”

Those who had been hired at 5 o’clock came forward, and each received one denarius.

Burnand

Therefore, when it was the turn of those who were hired first, they expected to receive more. However, they too also received one denarius each. They took it, but they began to grumble against the master of the house. “These men who were hired last only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”

However, he answered one of them, saying, “Friend, I am not being unjust to you. Did you not agree with me for one denarius? Take what you have earned and go. I wish to give to the man hired last the same as I give to you. Have I not the right to do as I wish with what is mine? Or do you give me an evil look because I am generous? Thus will the last be first and the first will one day be last.”

2nd February Trinity

February 10, 2019

Matthew 20: 1-16

Some individuals seem to have all the luck – everything they do turns out well and is rewarded. Meanwhile, others sweat and toil under difficult circumstances and seem barely able to exist. Those for whom things go well may be guilty of pride – they may think that the others just aren't applying themselves enough, while the disadvantaged individual may likely suffer envy.

Codex aureus Epternacensis 

Without knowing about each other's past lives, it is impossible to determine the reason for the differences. On the great wheel of incarnations, we are sometimes up and sometimes down. The whole purpose of incarnating is to develop a strong and independent self. In the parable, this selfhood is the 'one denarius' that is the reward of a day's labor, the reward for our daily labors on the field of earth. This single selfhood can then open in gratitude and be offered as a container for a higher, truer Self.

Some seem to come to selfhood only after a tremendous amount of labor and suffering. Others may seem to achieve their 'one denarius' quickly, late and with little effort. What we do not know is how much this individual has suffered or labored in the past, either in this lifetime or another. The parable seems to be saying that grumbling and envy are in any case detrimental; they won't bring you greater rewards; in fact, they erode the self.

11th Century Byzantine

In addition, the parable assures us that, despite what the envious may think, the Master is generous. He always rewards our labors, no matter how it may appear to us. He gives us our daily bread, sufficient for the day's needs. In fact, we are all working together to achieve the harvest. 

Albert Einstein said, "Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received."

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2nd February Trinity 2018, Span the Chasm

Feb. Trinity (also for children)
(Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7^th Sunday before Easter)
Luke 18: 18-34

One of the highest spiritual leaders

of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, [Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said… Mk 10:21] “One thing, however, you lack: Sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.February Trinity

February 11, 2018
Luke 18: 18-34

Day follows night; spring follows winter. In cycles of time, the seasons follow one another, inscribing a great spiral.

In our lives too, there are seasons; youth, maturity, age; illness, health; life and death—greater and lesser cycles that carry their own greater meaning.

Christ asks those who believe in Him, trust in Him, to follow Him; to walk where He walks, to go where He goes. He asks us to engage our will, and our willingness. For He wishes to lead humankind into an ascending spiral, into a new kind of spring, a new kind of youth. But paradoxically this path leads Him, and us, first through winter, through illness, and through death.

And herein lies the problem; for everything in us strains away from suffering and death. And so His plea, that we follow Him, is a plea that we overcome our antipathy for the hard things. For suffering and illness can only bear fruit if we are willing. There is no resurrection without death; no love without sacrifice. Death can be inhabited by Life only if we love Him and are willing to accompany Him there. Only through the working of God’s power in the human being is the great spiral of ascent even possible. Rilke said:

As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood's dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.

Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.

To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions ... For the god
wants to know himself in you.*

*Rainer Maria Rilke, in Ahead of All Parting, ed. and translated by Steven Mitchell 

2nd February Trinity 2017, My Grief or My Gladness

2nd February Trinity

Luke 8:4-18

And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he spoke in a parable:

Van Gogh

A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path. It was trodden upon, and the birds of the sky (air) ate it up. Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it (the sprouting green) withered, because it had no moisture. Still other seed fell under the thorns; the thorns grew with it and choked what came up. And some fell upon good soil, grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. When he had said these things, he called out: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean. And he said: To you, it has been given the gift of being able to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the others, it is given in pictures and parables, for they see and do not yet see, and hear, although they do not yet understand with their thinking. The meaning of the parable is this:

The seed is the Word of God. That which fell upon the path are those who hear it; afterward the tempter comes and tears the Word out of their hearts so that they cannot find healing through the trusting power of faith working in them.

Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, take it up with joy; but they remain without root. For a while, the power of their faith works in them, but in times of trial, they fall away.

Harvest of Earth, Mattias Gerung, Ottheimer Folio detail

What fell under the thorns are those who hear the Word from the spirit, and as they go on their way, the sorrows and the riches and the joys of life choke it, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

And the seed which fell in the good soil are those who hear the Word, and take it up into their hearts, feel its beauty, become noble and worthy and patiently keep it alive, tending it there until it brings forth fruit.

No one lights a light and hides it under a vessel or under a bench; instead, he places it on a lamp stand so that all who come in see the light. For nothing is hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing is secret which shall not be known and proclaimed.

So attend to how you listen. For he who has enlivened in himself the power to bear the spirit, to him more will be given. He however who does not have this power, from him will be taken that which he thinks he has.

2nd February Trinity

February 12, 2017

Luke 8:14-18

Christ uses today's parable of living things, seeds, to describe Himself. He is the seed of the living, Creative Word of God. He is sown into our hearts. But whether He grows there depends on the inner conditions into which He falls.

Tissot

One could say something similar about what happens to our own words. How they are received, whether they live and grow in another's heart, depends largely on the conditions into which they fall. Say what we will, unless the conditions are right, nothing will grow.

There is a further element to consider: God's Word is His living, Creative Word of Love. This is what He has sown and wants to grow in our hearts.  But we humans have the option to strew all kinds of words. We can broadcast words of kindness, mercy, comfort. Or we can fling words of hate, cruelty, meanness. We can scatter words that create or words that destroy.

Depending on where these words land, they will sprout. Kind words will grow kindness; mean words will grow hatred. And we will inevitably harvest what we have sown.

Rudolf Steiner said, "We easily allow ourselves through a wrong judgment to be

Hortus Deliciarum, Das Gleichnis vom Sämann Wiki Commons

carried away into hurling an insult, for example, without thinking of the consequences of our action. We hit a person and we are unaware that we have raised our hand against ourselves because this blow will come back to hit us at the given time."*

So even an enlightened self-interest would caution us to be careful of what we speak. For we will inevitably reap what we sow. In the words of e.e. cummings:

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;

my prayers are prayers of earth's own . . .  children

whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness **

*Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 125 – Wege und Ziele des geistigen Menschen – Kopenhagen, 4 June 1910 (page 56-57). This English translation has been copied from the book: GA 125 – Paths and Goals of the Spiritual Human Being – Life questions in the light of spiritual science – Chapter 4 – Copenhagen, 4 June 1910  **e.e.cummings ~, Complete Poems 1904-1962

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2nd February Trinity 2016, Embracing Suffering

3rd, 4th February Trinity (Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

Jean-Marie St. Eve, Wikicommons

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

3rd, 4th February Trinity

Blake

February 14, 2016

Matthew 4:1-11

Christ was the God who had never before lived in an earthly body. Forty days after his entry at the Baptism into the body of Jesus, he feels for the first time the hunger for earthly nourishment. The body shows him the overwhelming nature of the thirst for existence. This is the thirst for existence that Buddha had warned that humanity needed to be overcome in order to avoid suffering.

And it is this thirst for existence that gives the adversary access to Christ Jesus. Yet Christ manages to maintain his equilibrium between heaven and earth. For he came, not to avoid suffering, but to embrace it.

He refuses to magick up bread for himself. Instead, angels nourish him in the sphere of life. He refuses to succumb to pride in his own uniqueness as Son of God. He sees through the delusion that the Prince of this world could give him earthly power and glory.

Instead, he is faithful to His Father and to his own mission. He does not flee the hunger and hardship that being in a body entails. He chooses, and will continue to choose to embrace suffering, the suffering of all humankind, because he loves us. He chooses the hard road.

In so doing, Christ laid the seed of possibility within each of us. We can see through the delusions of the adversary. We can overcome pride and maintain our trust and connection with our heavenly Father, who holds our unique destiny and purpose in his hands. We can embrace our own suffering as a necessary step along our own path. And we can embrace others in their suffering through Christ’s love. 

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2nd February Trinity 2015, Fear Not the Pain

(Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7th Sunday before Easter)

Luke 18: 18-34

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master,

Heinrich Hoffman

what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, [Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said… Mk 10:21] “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions, and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle, than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife, or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him; but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

2^nd February Trinity

Luke 18: 18 – 34

February 15, 2015

In spring the trees display the beauty of blossoms. Then there comes a point: the petals fall; the beauty fades into a kind of death; and ordinary green emerges. Yet where the blossoms spent themselves, hidden beneath the leaves, there lie the fruits. At first they are small and hard. But eventually, in the fall, the season of death, they will ripen to provide the new life of the next season.

The rich young man was in full flower. He had fulfilled all the commandments; he had accumulated all the cultural and spiritual riches of his people. He was ready for the next step. But instead of giving him more riches, more glory, Christ sends him on a path of descent, a path of sacrifice. He is to shed the beauty of his ‘petals’ for the sake of others. Sadness follows. At first the fruits of this path are small and hard. At the same time, it is the path that Christ acknowledges that He himself is taking.

What took place outwardly for the rich young man takes place for us now inwardly. We are not literally required to sell all our possessions, though there may come a time when that is appropriate.  Rather we are to be willing to inwardly sacrifice, to let go of everything we have accomplished, all the knowledge we have acquired, in order to take the next step in becoming fruitful to others. Perhaps this means that we let children assume more responsibility for their lives, for their sakes. Or we may recognize that we need to hand over some leadership responsibilities to others for the sake of the group’s further development. Or that we let go of the old ways in order to develop new ones.  In other words, we are being reminded that there comes a point where we need to descend, to sacrifice, in order that new life can arise.  As Rilke says:

….

Thus must it be, when willingly you strive

throughout a long and uncomplaining life,

committed to one goal: to give yourself!

And silently to grow and to bear fruit.[1]

….enter the breathing

that is more than your own.

….

Fear not the pain.  Let its weight fall back

into the earth;

…

The trees you planted in childhood have grown

too heavy.  You cannot bring them along.

Give yourselves to the air, to what you cannot hold.[2]

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---

[1] Rainer Maria Rilke,  “The Apple Orchard”, in Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, trans. by Albert Ernest Flemming

[2]  Rainer Maria Rilke, “Sonnets to Orpheus, Part 1, 4”,  in In Praise of Mortality, translated and edited by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

2nd February Trinity 2007, Grow God

2^nd February Trinity

Luke 8:14-18

And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he spoke in a parable:

A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path. It was trodden upon, and the birds of the sky (air) ate it up. Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it (the sprouting green) withered, because it had no moisture. Still other seed fell under the thorns; the thorns grew with it and choked what came up. And some fell upon good soil, grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. When he had said these things, he called out:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean. And he said:

To you it has been given the gift of being able to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the others it is given in pictures and parables, for they see and do not yet see, and hear, although they do not yet understand with their thinking. The meaning of the parable is this:

The seed is the Word of God. That which fell upon the path are those who hear it; afterwards the tempter comes and tears the Word out of their hearts, so that they cannot find healing through the trusting power of faith working in them.

Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, take it up with joy; but they remain without root. For a while the power of their faith works in them, but in times of trial they fall away.

What fell under the thorns are those who hear the Word from the spirit, and as they go on their way, the sorrows and the riches and the joys of life choke it, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

And the seed which fell in the good soil are those who hear the Word, and take it up into their hearts, feel its beauty, become noble and worthy and patiently keep it alive, tending it there until it brings forth fruit.

No one lights a light and hides it under a vessel or under a bench; instead he places it on a lamp stand so that all who come in see the light. For nothing is hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing is secret which shall not be known and proclaimed.

So attend to how you listen. For he who has enlivened in himself the power to bear the spirit, to him more will be given. He however who does not have this power, from him will be taken that which he thinks he has.

2^nd February Trinity

Feb 11, 2007

Luke 8:14-18

  

Imagine a potted plant you could only view from a distance. How could you tell if it were a living plant or an artificial one? You could observe it over time. Does it grow and blossom? Does it change?

The Gospel says that Jesus uses agricultural images especially for the souls who stream to him from the city. These plant images are the most accurate for describing how the living seed of the Word of God changes and grows over time. So He uses images from the realm of living processes to describe how the Word of God lives and grows in the soul.

The life realm is a quiet realm. We don’t hear flowers open to a fanfare of trumpets. We don’t perceive a great symphonic flourish when fruit ripens. The living Word of God is as quiet as a seed. The very loudness of modern life with its sorrows and riches and joys may distract us to the point where our souls can no longer provide the depth and richness, the fertility for the germination and growth of His Word.

We need to tend the field of our own souls. We need to till the ground of the

Alfred Soord

heart, perhaps through suffering, certainly through attention and selfless deeds. We need to water the ground of the heart with our tears, warm it with our prayers, let shine the clear sunlight of our spiritual learning and understanding. We need to take in the seed of God’s Word and treasure it in our hearts. We need to protect it and nourish it in the womb of the soul so that it grows and develops there.

We can grow God in our hearts. We do this so that His Word can mature and ripen into fruitfulness that we can offer to the world of earth and the world of the angels. God’s Word – as it quietly speaks in the Gospels, as it is imaged in nature, as it speaks through human destinies -- resounds and manifests in the world through us. We can grow and carry God wherever we go. We can be the place where His Word becomes manifest, grows and transforms.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd February Trinity 2008, No Fool

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

Blake, Stones into Bread

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

  

Then the devil took him to the holy city and

Blake, Throw Yourself Down

had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

2^nd Sunday February Trinity

February 10, 2008

Matthew 4:1-11

When a first-time driver sits behind the wheel, he or she must first gain control of the power of the vehicle—how far to turn the wheel in order to end up where he wants; how hard to press on gas or brake. The first lessons are usually out in an empty space.

In this gospel reading, Christ had just been baptized. He had just for the first time entered the strange territory of a human soul and body. Imagine what a great coup it would have been for the devil to abort Christ’s mission at its very inception. So we can imagine the devil hauling out his greatest weapons.

The first of the devil’s weapons is the desperation of the body’s need. In suggesting that Christ turn stones into bread, the devil might also be whispering that of course it would be foolish for Christ to let Himself die of starvation here in the desert. Yet Christ resists literally taking matter into his own hands. He relies on the Father’s living presence to sustain Him—and indeed He is nourished by angels who come to feed Him.

The second and the third of the devil’s temptations involve the soul’s

Blake, Riches of the World

pride in two extreme forms. First the devil draws Him over to one side, into foolishly assuming God’s total protection of body and soul, no matter how extreme the behavior, even if He were to jump off a high place. Failing that, the devil takes Him to the other extreme, encouraging Him to drop his allegiance to the Father altogether and to derive His power from the Prince of this World.

Yet, new as He is to life in a human body, Christ is no fool. He sees through the errors and consequences in the devil’s propositions. He knows that His connection with His Father must remain both appropriate and unbroken in order for Him to do what he has come to earth to do.

Because Christ was able to overcome temptation from within the human body, He is able to give every human being the possibility to do likewise—to see through and to resist the devil’s false suggestions, in order to do what we have come to earth to do. Each human being has the possibility to maintain a connection to the world from which we all have come. We can become aware of our real connection with our Father in the heavens, whose kingdom comes when it is His will that is done on earth. We can perhaps hear Him speaking in the words of the poet:

Close both eyes and see with the other eye.

Open your hands if you want to be held….

Quit acting like a wolf and feel

the Shepherd’s love, filling you.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi, “A Communion of the Spirit” in The Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks, p. 3.