4th St. Johnstide 2019, Not the Only

4th St. Johnstide

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession), adapted from Madsen

  

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them

Roland Tiller

, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.”

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

4^th St. Johns

July 21, 2019

Mark 8:27 – Mark 9:1

We have passed the half-way point in the year. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere have begun descending from the sun’s zenith. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, the time of the year’s deepest darkness is past. Now begins their ascent into the light.

In today’s reading, Peter’s recognition of the Christ in Jesus is a kind of a high point. It allows Christ to further reveal even more of Himself—He says that the Son of Man must suffer much, be rejected, killed. He speaks of a descent into the depths of human existence, into death, and beyond; but He will rise again.

This revelation seems to spur Peter’s thinking into a narrow abyss of fear—he urges Jesus to save Himself; but thereby Peter’s practicality misses the bigger picture, and he inadvertently opposes Christ’s mission. For Christ came specifically to conquer death from within. In descending to the depths of the earth, Christ will ultimately make the whole earth itself into His body.

In our lives too, there are moments when the working of the divine reveals itself, often in the midst of an ordeal. We may not recognize it until later. And we may also then see how we resisted it out of fear or pride.

Though it is certainly human enough that we resist suffering, we ultimately need not fear it. These are indeed just the places where Christ is most easily found. For He has placed Himself forever into the depths of human existence. Whether we are ascending into the light, or descending into darkness, He always there to help us begin anew on our path. As Vaclav Havel said,

Collot d'Herbois

It is I who must begin.

Once I begin, once I try --

here and now,

right where I am,

… I suddenly discover,

to my surprise, that

I am neither the only one,

nor the first,

nor the most important one

to have set out

upon that road.*

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---

*Vaclav Havel, “It Is I Who Must Begin’ in Teaching With Fire, ed. by S.M. Intrator and M. Scribner

4th St. Johnstide 2018, Drops of the Sun

Unknown Artist

St. Johnstide 

Matthew 11: 2-15

When John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are awakened, and those who have become poor receive the message of salvation. Blessed are those who are not offended by my Being.”

When they had gone, Jesus began to speak about John. “Why did you go out into the desert? Did you want to see a reed swaying in the wind? Or was it something else you wanted to see? Did you want to see a man in splendid garments? Those in splendid garments are in the palaces of kings. Did you go to see a man who is initiated into the mysteries of the spirit, a prophet? Yes, I say to you—he is more than a prophet. He it is of whom it is written:

           

Elijah

            Behold it well: I will send my angel before your face;

            He shall prepare the way of your working in human hearts

            So that your being may be revealed.

The truth I say to you: among all who are born of women, not one has risen up who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist, and even more now, the kingdom of heaven will arise within human beings through the power of the will; those who exert themselves can freely grasp it. The deeds of the prophets and the content of the Law are words of the spirit that were valid [worked into the future] until the time of John. And if you want to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

4th St. Johnstide

July 15, 2018

Matthew 11: 2-15

The sun can shine mightily. Yet the bird in the covered cage will not sing. The plant kept in the dark will not thrive. Uncover the cage, place the plant near the sunlight, and they respond to the light.

When John the Baptist asks from prison whether Jesus is the Messiah, the answer is not a simple yes or no. Rather Jesus points to the effects of his deeds. He has uncovered the soul-cages, brought human souls to the spirit light.

Rembrandt

Not only those physically blind, but also the soul-blind and the soul-deaf can see and hear. Deadened souls are awakened. Weak souls can rise and move forward. The outcasts, the beggars for the spirit receive heaven’s healing richness.

The point is that the working of Christ was and continues to show itself as effective within human beings. “Through Him can the healing spirit work.” And those who choose to follow the Christ path become those who, through Christ working in them, are also effective among their fellow human beings in a healing and uplifting way. 

We can hear in a poem by Hafiz how the Spirit-Sun speaks to our souls:

I know the voice of depression

Still calls to you.

I know those habits that can ruin your life

Still send their invitations.

But you are with the Friend now

And look so much stronger.

You can stay that way

And even bloom!

Keep squeezing drops of the Sun

From your prayers and work and music

And from your companions' beautiful laughter.

Keep squeezing drops of the Sun

From the sacred hands and glance of your Beloved…**

Visit our new website!

---

* From the Creed of The Christian Community

** Hafiz, “Cast All Your Votes For Dancing”, in I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky

4th St. Johnstide 2017, Call of Freedom

St. Johnstide

John in Prison, Rembrandt

Matthew 11: 2-15

When John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are awakened, and those who have become poor receive the message of

Dore

salvation. Blessed are those who are not offended by my Being.”

When they had gone, Jesus began to speak about John. “Why did you go out into the desert? Did you want to see a reed swaying in the wind? Or was it something else you wanted to see? Did you want to see a man in splendid garments? Those in splendid garments are in the palaces of kings. Did you go to see a man who is initiated into the mysteries of the spirit, a prophet? Yes, I say to you—he is more than a prophet. He it is of whom it is written:

           

            Behold it well: I will send my angel before your face;

            He shall prepare the way of your working in human hearts

            So that your being may be revealed.

The truth I say to you: among all who are born of women, not one has risen up who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist, and even more now, the kingdom of heaven will arise within human beings through the power of the will; those who exert themselves can freely grasp it. The deeds of the prophets and the content of the Law are words of the spirit that were valid [worked into the future] until the time of John. And if you want to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

4^th St. Johnstide

July 16, 2017

Matthew 11: 2-15

There are at least two ways to land in prison; one way is to transgress the law, the social order. The other is to be captured by evil. Humankind has become imprisoned for both reasons. We have transgressed, and we have been captured by the forces of hindrance. 

Christ sent his angel, Elijah-John, to awaken us in our captivity. Through him, we become aware of our guilt, but also of our captive state. And He announces the arrival of our Liberator, the one who will spring the trap, free us, and help us cleanse our clogging guilt.

The angel John was himself imprisoned, both by evil forces and by humanity's collective guilt. In his captivity, others were the ones to bear witness for him, to bear witness to that which he could no longer experience directly. They witnessed that the Liberator gives the insight of vision. He gives inspiration and movement to human souls. He brings cleansing and blessing. And He brings the glad tidings of a new state of freedom for humankind. And so, may we hear Christ's wish for us in the words of the poet:

As a bird soars high

In the free holding of the wind,

Clear of the certainty of ground,

Opening the imagination of wings

Into the grace of emptiness

To fulfill new voyagings,

May your life awaken

To the call of its freedom.*

John O'Donohue, "For Freedom", in To Bless the Space Between Us.

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4th St. Johnstide 2015, Daughters of the Lamb

St. Johnstide

Luke 3: 7-18

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You are sons of the serpent yet! Who led you to believe that you can avoid the decline of the old ways of the soul? Produce true fruits in keeping with a change of heart and mind. And do not begin excusing yourselves by saying, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that God can raise up sons for Abraham out of these stones. The ax is already poised at the root of the trees, so every tree that does not produce good fruit is felled and thrown into the fire.”

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

John answered, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

“Do not collect any more than you are authorized to do,” he told them.

               

Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

St. Martin 

He replied, “Do not intimidate and do not accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ, the Messiah.

John answered them all, “I wash you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will wash you with the breath of the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, while he burns up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

And with many and various exhortations John preached the good news to the people.

St. Johnstide

July 19, 2015

Luke 3: 7-18

A son or daughter derives much of their way of being from their parents. In many respects, (though not all), the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as the saying goes.

Beatus Escorial, wiki

John the Baptist tells the people coming to him to be baptized that they are yet ‘sons of the serpent’. That is to say that their life is organized around the uprighted serpent of their earthly senses, housed in the brain and spinal column. In a certain very real sense, our inherited physical constitution goes back to Adam and Eve, when this ‘serpent’ inserted itself into human evolution. We are all sons and daughters of the serpent, living by the senses.

But John has seen in Christ a new kind of human being. Seeing Christ gives him the image of a lamb, a young innocent who will nevertheless take on the burden of the world’s sin, which are the results of living only by the serpent.

We are called upon to become sons and daughters of the Lamb. We are to share the burdens of our fellow human beings; share our outer and inner wealth with them. We are not to unfairly heap more weight on them than they can carry. We are not to intimidate them or tarnish their reputation.

Becoming a son or daughter of the Lamb is no easy task. It includes undergoing a kind of purification by fire – a burning out of all the old serpentine ways of thinking and of acting solely for our own advantage.  What is of value in us will be winnowed out from what is useless in our nature. We prune and shape and cultivate our soul life, our very sense of self, so that it produces good spiritual fruits to offer to God and to our fellow brothers and sisters. 

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4th St. Johnstide 2007, Rest In Prayer

Sombart

St. Johnstide

John 3: 22-36

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.’

“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 true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

Nicoletto Semitecolo

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.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

4^th St. Johnstide 

July 15, 2007

John 3: 22-36

To plant a seed is an exercise in trust – we trust that this tiny hard little thing we stick in the ground has the power to develop into something quite different. We trust that the seed will grow up out of the earth, into the light and air, and will undergo its enormous changes of form. These changes are generated by the life-giving power of the sun.

Something similar takes place within us. Our lives, our souls, undergo tremendous changes and development. The powers that be have planted us here on earth. They have tremendous faith in our ability to develop. They have even given us all the potential. It all depends on our capacity to trust in the power of God’s Son within us.

“Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of earthly life into timeless life.” John 3:36

If the seed were too afraid to stretch into the light and air, it would remain in the earth and moulder away. If our souls and lives are ruled by fear and anxiety, we remain chained to the earthly.

“Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life. John 3:36 The Son God is the power behind our becoming. He is the power that gives us the courage to proceed through all our changes, to keep growing, ever higher, ever deeper. We don’t need to be so anxious, so full of our own efforts. We have help.

Catherine of Sienna wrote:

The sun hears the fields talking about effort

And the sun smiles

And whispers to me

“Why don’t the fields just rest, for

I am willing to do

Everything

To help them grow?”

Rest my dears, in

Prayer.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Catherine of Sienna, “Rest in Prayer,” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky. P. 195.

4th St. Johnstide 2008, Engage

St. Johnstide

John 3:22 - 36

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 [ee’nuhn] near Salim [say’lim], 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.”

Balduino

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.’

“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 true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

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.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

4^th St. Johnstide

July 20, 2008

John 3: 22 – 36

Power has a kind of radiance. It moves outward and creates effects. It can be positive or negative. It can overwhelm. Love from the spirit is a bit different. It too radiates – warmth and support. But the highest form of love does not overwhelm. It invites. And it waits for assent.

Today’s gospel reading is about the difference between power and love. Some of John the Baptist’s disciples come to him complaining that one of the people he had baptized, that Jesus fellow, is preaching a path of purification that is drawing greater crowds. John emphasizes that legitimate spiritual power is granted by the divine world. John reiterates that he himself is only a forerunner of One to come.

Christ as Bridegrooom

The One to come, however will move humanity a giant step forward, step beyond power. His “power” will be the power of purest, sweetest, most warmly supportive, patient  and empathetic love; the highest love imaginable. John describes Him as the bridegroom. His bride is the human soul spirit. Indeed He is the bridegroom of the collective soul of all humanity. He gazes in love at each and every human being. He does not overwhelm. He invites. He awaits the consent to union.

Moving forward into this second half of the year, our soul is being invited to become engaged to Christ. As we move through the summer we have the opportunity to gradually approach Him, to align ourselves with Him, to develop a trust in His will, His love, His healing. We are preparing our souls and spirits for the great wedding with the King’s Son in October, at Michaelmas. We are  looking forward to the birth of the eternal spirit Child at Christmas, that will arise out of this marriage.

But first we have to engage. First we develop an active relationship of trust in this powerfully loving Divine human being, this God-Man, who is the soul’s true intended. This engagement is a matter of the heart. We will decide to betroth our soul’s heart to Christ, not because He is powerful, but because He is our great teacher of love. This love from above, from the divine heights, is food and nourishment for the soul’s journey of life. It is the protector of the generative, creating capacity of the heart.

“Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within herself, she grows out of the earthly into timeless life.” John 3:36

www.thechristiancommunity.org

4th St. Johnstide 2010, Bride Soul

 St. Johnstide

John 3: 22-36

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.’

“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.

Gerhard Wagner

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 true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

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.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

4^th St. Johnstide

July 18, 2010

John 3: 22-36

“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.” John 3: 29

John refers to Christ as the Bridegroom, and himself as the bridegroom’s

Balduino

friend. If John is the bridegroom’s best man, who then is the bride?

The bride is the soul of humanity. She is that greater entity made up of all human souls; those now living on earth, those yet to be born, those who have died. The greater Soul of Humanity yearns for her Bridegroom, just as the individual soul yearns for union with its higher self.

Every married couple, rising to a new day, reaffirms their union once again. Day by day, this affirming, this saying yes to each other, this offering of self to the other, creates a stronger and stronger bond.

Every time we celebrate the Act of Consecration of Man, we are re-celebrating, reaffirming the union of the Soul of Humanity with her Bridegroom. The souls of all on earth, the souls of those not yet born, the souls of all who have died, are invited to join with us. And at this time of the year, we also acknowledge the presence at the altar of John, the friend of the Bridegroom, he who stands by and listens. For he is the witness of the affirming of our union. We ask him to look upon this deed, to witness and strengthen the union of mankind’s Soul with Christ, her Bridegroom.  

www.thechristiancommunity.org

4th St. Johnstide 2012, Good Fruits

St. Johnstide

John 3: 22-36

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.”

Balduino

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.’

“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 true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

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.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

4^th St. Johnstide

July 15, 2012

Luke 3: 7-18

Sometimes the sweetest fruit comes from an old tree; but usually it is a tree that has been long cared for with thoughtful pruning and generous stimulus to growth.

One of humanity’s old ‘cultural trees’ is Buddha’s eightfold path. The path is a call to be mindful of how a one thinks and acts. He encourages us to make rightful decisions based on appropriate strivings, and to accurately recollect and contemplate our past thoughts and actions.

The eightfold path is echoed in today’s reading. John the Baptist’s suggestions for preparing our hearts and minds for an encounter with Christ is especially relevant for today:

Share, don’t hoard. Speak truth. Don’t intimidate.

J.P. de Rothchild

These are the heart generosities and soul prunings that produce “good fruits in keeping with a change of heart and mind”. It doesn’t matter how young or how old the soul. Neither do genetics, social standing or cultural heritage matter. We all can practice cultivating our own hearts and minds. For every tree that does not produce good fruit is of no use to the world. No matter how insignificant our outer lives may otherwise seem, our hearts and minds can become like the tree described by Denise Levertov:

  
    …this tree, behold,
    glows from within;
    haloed in visible
    invisible gold.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Denise Levertov,  “Last Night's Dream”