1st St. Johnstide 2016, Weight of History

John the Baptizer, Tissot

1^st St. Johnstide

June 24, 26, 2016

Mark 1: 1 -11

 This is the beginning of the new word from the realm of the angels, sounding forth through Jesus Christ. Fulfilled is the word of the prophet Isaiah:

Behold, I send my angel before your face.

He is to prepare your way.

Hear the voice of one calling in the loneliness of the human soul

Prepare the way for the Lord within the soul,

Make his paths straight, so that he may find entrance into Man’s innermost being!

Tissot, Brooklyn Museum

Thus did John the Baptist appear in the loneliness of the desert. He proclaimed Baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, for the acknowledgment of sin. And they went out to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem and received baptism from him in the river Jordan and recognized and confessed their failings.

John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. Fruits and wild honey were his food. And he proclaimed:

               

‘After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not even worthy to bend down before Him and to undo the straps of His sandals. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy [healing] Spirit.’

In those days it happened: Jesus of Nazareth came to Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.

And at the same time as he rose up again out of the water, he beheld how the spheres of the heavens were torn open, and the spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.

And a voice sounded from the world of the spirit:

‘You are my son, the beloved —in you is my revelation.’ [‘Today I have conceived (begotten) you.’ Luke 3:22]

1^st St. Johnstide

June 24, 26, 2016

Mark 1: 1 -11

At the solstice, the length of the day ceases to change. It remains essentially the same for several days. Solstice creates a pause, a quiet place in the flow of time.

Pauses are opportunities for reflection. We are encouraged to look back, to remember. In remembering there can arise in us the wish to do some things better if we were to encounter them again. We may have done our best at the time. But knowing what we know now, we would do it differently in the future.

Uriel, the Archangel for this solstice season [in the Northern Hemisphere] is the holder of humanity’s

memory. He creates the historic conscience that arises out of humanity’s deeds and mistakes, its errors, but also humanity’s greater intentions for the future. John the Baptist carried this memory conscience of humanity’s history, which was essentially the fall into sin. And down the ages he calls to us to change the way we think and feel, to change how we act. He encourages us to recognize the necessity of realigning ourselves with our higher intentions.

Those higher intentions are embodied in Christ Jesus. John points to Him as the one who has taken on the burden of the sins of the world, the weight and course of humanity’s history. He does so in order to  heal humanity from the sickness of sin; to wring Life from the dominion of the death force; to raise humanity up out of ruin.

Christ has shown us the Way to the Truth about Life. But He does not work as a magician. St. John reminds us that now it is up to us to change our hearts and minds; to straighten Christ’s path into our souls. Only thus can Christ work in humanity.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

1st St. Johnstide 2015, Think Differently

St. John’s

Mark 1, 1-11

This is the beginning of the new word from the realm of the angels, sounding forth through Jesus Christ. Fulfilled is the word of the prophet Isaiah:

Behold, I send my angel before your face.

wiki commons

He is to prepare your way.

Hear the voice of one calling in the loneliness of the human soul

Prepare the way for the Lord within the soul,

Make his paths straight, so that he may find entrance into Man’s innermost being!

Thus did John the Baptist appear in the loneliness of the desert. He proclaimed Baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, for the acknowledgement of sin. And they went out to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem and received baptism from him in the river Jordan and recognized and confessed their failings.

John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. Fruits and wild honey were his food. And he proclaimed:

               

‘After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not even worthy to bend down before Him and to undo the straps of His sandals. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy [healing] Spirit.’

In those days it happened: Jesus of Nazareth came to Galilee, and was baptized in the Jordan by John.

And at the same time as he rose up again out of the water, he beheld how the spheres of the heavens were torn open, and the spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.

And a voice sounded from the world of the spirit:

‘You are my son, the beloved —in you is my revelation.’ [‘Today I have conceived (begotten) you.’ Luke 3:22]

St. John’s

June 24, 28, 2015

Mark 1, 1-11

Annual plants sprout and grow and grow, laddering out green leaf after green leaf. Then at a certain point, the activity compresses and finally comes to a standstill. What comes next is a transformation into something entirely different – a different form, color, scent, nectar and pollen – the blossom.  The perfume and pollen rise up. This in turn attracts bees and butterflies. It is as though the blossom has grown into a life beyond itself. Carried by the air, warmed by the sun and infused with the stars, the pollen descends and returns to the plant. It brings with the image, the archetype of next year’s plant, freshly created by the angels. This image is then bound to the newly forming seed. This is the gesture of summer: transformation, opening, encountering forces from above, the blessing of new life.

Christ’s baptism in the Jordan partakes of this great living summer process. The soul of Jesus had been broken open in sorrowing compassion for the state of humankind. He comes to the Jordan to offer himself – his bodily form, his compassionate soul, the fragrance and sweetness of his moral nature. The heavens open and the Holy, healing Spirit of the Father’s love descends into him. He has been made fruitful from above. The freshly created archetype of the true human being has created seeds of new life in him.

We know that we are needy of healing here on earth. In the Act of Consecration of Man , aware of our separation from the world of the divine, we open our hearts and minds. We offer our noblest and purest thoughts, the yearning of our hearts, our willingness. We hope that as the fragrance of our offering ascends, something, Someone will approach us from the other side. We hope that the grace of the Father’s love will descend upon us, enter into us. We hope to be made fruitful, that the seeds of real love will begin to form within us. For our deepest yearning is to be enkindled from above, united with our true nature.

John the Baptist reminds us that we must change. We must turn ourselves around inwardly. Think differently. Then the living light of the Christ-Sun can enkindle and ripen in us.