Showing posts with label Adam Bittleston. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Holy Nights 2017, New Year, January 1, 2017

New Year's Day

January 1, 2017

The Gospel of John, 1:1-18

(translation by Adam Bittleston)

In the very beginning was the Word,

And the Word was with God,

And the Word was God.

He was with God in the very beginning.

All things came into being through Him,

And without Him came into being nothing

That has come into being.

In him was Life,

And the Life was the Light of mankind.

The Light shines in the Darkness,

And the Darkness did not grasp it.

There came to be a man, sent from God,

His name Ioannes.

John Baptizes Jesus, Gerard David, Wiki Commons

He came for testimony,

That he should testify of the Light,

That all might have faith through him.

He was not the Light,

But came to testify of the Light.

For the Light that in truth endures,

That illumines every man,

Was coming into the World.

He was in the World,

And the World came into being through Him

Yet the World did not know Him.

He came to the separate,

Yet the separate men did not receive Him.

But those who received Him—

To them, He gave full power

To become children of God,

Those who have faith in His name.

They have their being

Not from the bloodsteams,

Not from the will of the flesh,

Not from the will of a man,

But from God.

And the Word became flesh,

And made his dwelling among us,

And we saw His glory,

Glory of one born from the Father alone,

With abundance of grace and truth.

Ioannes testified of Him, proclaiming,

That is He of whom I said:

He Who comes after me

Takes His place above me

Because He was before me.

From the abundance of His Being

We have all received

Grace upon grace.

The Law was given through Moses;

Grace and truth came into being

Through Jesus Christ.

God no-one has beheld ever;

The son Who is born of Him alone

And Who has His Being

At the Father’s breast,

Has come to lead our seeing.

New Year's Day

January 1, 2017

The Gospel of John, 1:1-18

We stand before a time of beginnings. Most notably, of course, this is the beginning of a New Year, which this year starts under the signature of the first day of the week, a Sunday, the day of the Resurrection. What will this new year bring?

Our own lives present us with possibilities to begin anew. Every new day, new month, new year are filled with possibilities, with choices. What will we choose?

Christ's coming sets in motion events that give all of humankind the possibility of creating something new. He is the ancestor of a new people, the Christ-folk. Those whom destiny or choice have led to Him can help create a new stream of humankind. Whoever receives Him are themselves born anew, out of grace and truth. They can choose to love out of the light of wisdom and freedom.

Christ says that He stands radiating peace in His relationship to the world. He can give us His peace. We are free, minute by minute, to choose the path of love, of wisdom and grace, with His peace. The possibility is there – what will we choose? In the words of Fra Giovanni Giocondo (1386-1456):

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find
rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in

Salvatore Mundi, Andrea Previtale

this present little instant. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it,
yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and
glory in the darkness could we but see - and to see
we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its
gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly,
or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you
will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of
love, by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it, touch the angel's hand that
brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a
sorrow, or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand
is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an
overshadowing presence. …
Courage, then, to claim it …..

And so, I greet you… with the prayer that for you now and forever,
the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.

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Sunday, November 29, 2015

First Advent 2015, Strengthening Transformation

1st Advent

Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by

excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

1st Advent

November 29, 2015

Luke 21:25-36

Living things are always changing. The plants change form from seed to shoot to leaves, from leaves to blossom and fruit and seed. The living light of the sun is in constantly changing flux. These changes affect our experience.

Roland Tiller

Every year at this time, Christ slowly descends once again toward the opportunity for an intimate connection with humankind. Because He is Life itself, His approach stimulates change, change in the cosmos, change in our souls. One natural reaction to great change is anxiety.

The gospel encourages us to recognize in advance that our anxiety is caused in fact by the approach of Christ, the giver of Life, the refresher of our life’s true meaning. He is the giver of transformative change. We are encouraged not to just smother our unease with excess of food and drink. Rather we are encouraged to practice a state of vigilant, strengthening prayer.

Christ is seeking an encounter with our wakeful spirits, to take place during the days and nights of Christmas. We may pray that

…we be strengthened from the founts of will that bear us toward freedom;

that we be illumined from the founts of wisdom that warm the inmost heart;

that we feel peace from the founts of love which bless human work. [1]

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[1] Adapted from the Intercessory Prayer in MeditativePrayers for Today, Adam Bittleston

Sunday, October 18, 2015

3rd Michaelmas 2015, Michael Calls

2^nd, 3rd or 4th Michaelmas

Revelation 12: 1-17

Ottheinrich Folio, wikimedia

And a momentous image was unveiled in the world of spirit: a woman, clothed with the radiant power of the sun, the moon under her feet, her head adorned with the crown of the twelve stars of heaven. And she is with child and cries out in the labor and pain of giving birth.

And at the same time a second image was revealed in the heavens: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its head it has seven crowns and its tail is sweeping a third of all the stars in heaven and dashing them onto the earth. And the dragon is standing before the woman about to give birth, so that when she bears the child he can devour it. And she bore a child, a son ”who would shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.” And the woman’s child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place that God keeps ready there, so that they can take care of her for days numbering one thousand two hundred sixty.

And a war flared up in the spirit world. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought in the midst of his own angels, but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Down came the dragon, the giant, the serpent, the evil one called both Satan and the devil, deceiver of all the world. Onto the earth he came hurtling down, and all his angels with him.

And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying:

Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—

The power to heal the world,

The power to transform all being,

The power to draw everything into godly being.

Arisen is the spirit leadership of his Christ.

Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,

He who accused them night and day before the countenance of God.

They have overcome him through the blood and the sacrificial power of the Lamb

And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.

They did not love their own lives too dearly, nor did they fear death.

Therefore, rejoice you heavens

And all who lodge therein!

But woe to the earth and the sea:

For the Adversary has come down to you,

And he seethes with measureless fury,

For he knows that his time is short.

And when the dragon recognized that he had been cast onto the earth, he began to persecute the woman who had borne the son. Then the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly into the desert to her appointed place, where she is to be nourished for a cycle of time, for cycles of time, and for half a cycle of time, far from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent opened his mouth and spewed out a river of water after the woman so she would be swept off her feet by the river. But then the earth came to the woman’s assistance; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon spewed from his mouth. And the dragon burned with fury against the woman. He stormed away to make war on the rest of the woman’s seed, people who keep to the divine world aims and who are united with the destiny and witnessing of Jesus. As I saw this I was standing on the sandy shore of the sea.

3^rd Michaelmas

October 18, 2015

Revelation 12: 1-17

We have before the eye of the soul two great images. They are the cosmic eternal feminine, the soul of humanity, laboring to give birth to the son who will shepherd nations. And we see the destructive, devouring red dragon, full of rage, who tries to prevent this.

And we are told that the hosts of the Archangel Michael have thrust this

Breugel the Elder, Fall of the Rebel Angels, wikimedia

destructive being and his minions onto the earth. Michael has done so in order to cleanse the heavenly realms, so that Christ’s healing and transforming power, his power to spiritualize, can work unhindered from the heavens.

But woe to us. The dragon has come down to us, seething in measureless fury. Recent events can prompt us to ask: why does God allow war and massacre; why does he allow such tragedies to happen to innocent people? But that is the wrong question. Given the fact that it was necessary for the dragon to be sent down to earth, the question now comes toward us, from Michael’s heavenly hosts: How is it that human beings allow such tragedies to happen?

The beings who oppose our human development are making war upon us. We have the armor of God, the armor of truth, trust and peaceful intentions to protect us. It is now the task of the human world to keep the dragon in check; to keep the dragon’s fury and destruction from infecting our souls and destroying the earth. Should we choose to accept the task, Michael, the strong leader of Christ’s heavenly forces on earth, will come to our aid.

Amid the storm of the world,

In which our souls share

We seek the leader of the Angel-host,

Michael, who casts down the Dragon.

Into our thoughts may come through him
The sense of gentle awe,

Of patient reverence for the hidden wisdom

That is in all things.

And in our acts his courage

Will overcome the cramping fear

Which makes a slave of man.

Michael calls, when autumn darkens earth;

He leads to Christ, and fights for Christ, for ever;

So may we follow him, and fight beside him

Against the Dragon with enduring fire.[1]

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[1] Adam Bittleston, “Michael I”, in Meditative Prayers for Today, purchase here

Sunday, October 11, 2015

2nd Michaelmas,

2nd 3rd or 4th Michaelmas

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19

What it comes to in the end is this: grasp the power that streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength.

Put on the power of God as one puts on full armor, so that you may stand against the well-aimed attacks of the adversary. For our struggle is not to fight against powers of flesh and blood, but against

Durer, The Knight, Death and the Devil (wiki)

spirit beings mighty in the stream of time,

against spirit beings powerful in the molding of earth substance,

against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the present time,

against spirits who carry evil into the realms of the spiritual world.

Therefore take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand your ground on the day when evil unfolds its greatest strength, and victoriously withstand it.

Stand firm, then, girded with the truth, like a warrior firmly girded. Connect yourself with all in the world as is justified in the spiritual world, and this connection with the spirit will protect you like a strong breastplate.

And may Peace stream through you, down to your feet, so that on your path you spread peace, as the message that comes from the realm of the angels.

In all your deeds have trust in God. This trust will be like a mighty shield; with it you can quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take into your thinking the certainty of Christ’s healing deed. It will protect your head like a helmet.

And the spirit, which has become living in you, you shall grasp as one grasps a sharp sword. The sword of the spirit is the working of the Word of God.

May this armor clothe you in all your prayers and supplications, so that in the right moment you raise yourself in prayer to the spirit, and at the same time practice wakefulness in inner loyalty.

Feel yourself united in prayer with all other bearers of the spirit—also with me, Paul, so that the power of the word will be given to me when I am to courageously bring the knowledge of that holy mystery which lives in the message of the gospel.

2nd Michaelmas

October 11, 2015

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19

When we ship out something precious, we know to pack it well . We give it layers of protection, so that it can withstand the shocks and drops and weight of the shipping process.

In this reading, called The Armor of God, it is clear that we are being sent out in the midst of a battle against spiritual adversaries. We are to receive and bear protective armor. We are to put on the protections of truth, of trust in God, and of the knowledge that Christ heals. The only weapon we hold is the sword of spiritual discernment, discernment according to Christ’s Word. Yet we are not being called upon to attack the adversary, nor to destroy them. Our part in the battle is a defensive one. We are to endure their attacks, and remain standing.

Through the wearing of this armor we are called upon, not to thrash about and flail our weapons. We are called upon to become a protected vessel that contains and pours out peace, a peace that reaches down into the way we walk in the world, a peace that streams out from us so that we become messengers of the good news from the realm of the angels. As Adam Bittleston says:

We need in the strife of our day

St. Michael, Norton Simon Museum

The eternal Peace of the Word of God.

Seeking this Peace with our whole being

On the path which leads from the nightmare

Of endless chaos,

Into the order of heaven

And to the Father of all things—

We shall meet Michael

Who reveals how Christ

Awakens Man

That he may serve God.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

[1] Adam Bittleston, Michaelmas II, in Meditative Prayers for Today,

Sunday, October 12, 2014

2nd Michaelmas, Withstand

2^nd Michaelmas

October 12, 2014

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 6: 10 – 19

What it comes to in the end is this: grasp the power that streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength.