1st Advent 2010, Surrounded by Angels

1^st 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.

1^st Advent Sunday

November 28, 2010

Luke 21: 25 -36

A woman who is about to give birth is racked with pain. Wave after wave of contraction sweeps over her, for giving birth is hard labor. It requires endurance and strength. But at the end she and all around her experience the radiant wonder that a tiny human being, surrounded by angels, has arrived on earth.

Today’s reading is a description of the birth pangs of humanity; constriction, anxiety, and doubt wash over us as world events, earth events, sweep over us. They require our strength and endurance. For the outcome is the birth of the Son of Man.

They also require our wakefulness. For this birth is not a physical one. It happens rather in the realm of life that permeates both us and our earth. It happens within perceptive human souls. To perceive this birth, we struggle to stay awake amid the excesses of the season. We are surrounded by angels.

Many are the human beings who, in their hour of extreme need, have raised their souls to the spirit in prayer. And in their soul is born the power and radiance of a paradoxical peace. A calm settles over them, and they feel the nearness of God. They are surrounded by angels.

As David Whyte remarks:

These are hard paths we tread

…..

I know that …

Sulamith Wulfing

storms break over,

…and you will not move

while the voice all around

tears the air

and fills the sky with jagged light.

But sometimes unawares

those sounds seem to descend

as if kneeling down into you

and you listen strangely caught

as the terrible voice moving closer

halts,

and in the silence

now arriving

whispers

Get up, I depend

on you utterly.

Everything you need

you had

the moment before

you were born.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]  David Whyte, “Waking”, in Where Many Rivers Meet

4th November Trinity 2011, Fire in the Earth

4^th November Trinity

Revelation 21: 1-8

And I beheld the events in the spirit out of which a new heaven and a new earth proceeded. For the earlier heaven and the earlier earth were gone, and the billowing ocean is no more.

And further I saw the Holy City, untouched by the earthly, coming forth out of the being of God, descending out of the spiritual worlds: the New Jerusalem.

She appeared in her beauty like a bride who has adorned herself for the bridegroom.

Lamb and His Bride, Douce Apocalypse 

And I heard a powerful voice coming from the throne that said: “Behold the Dwelling of God in the midst of humanity. For He will indeed dwell in your midst, and the people will be His people.

‘”God himself will be with them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eye. There will be no more [bodily pain, nor soul pain, nor any other burdens of the inmost being] death, nor sorrow, nor weeping [uproar] nor any other sound of pain, for the old world is gone.”

And He who was seated on the throne said: “Behold: I am creating all anew.”

And He said, “Write, for it is these words that shall make faith and knowledge into true reality.”

And He said to me: “It is accomplished! I AM the Alpha and the Omega, World Beginning and World Goal. To the thirsty I will give from the springs of the waters of life, outside the workings of destiny, as grace. He who overcomes, he shall inherit all this. ‘I will be His God, and to me He will be like a son.’

“Those however who were cowardly [the spineless], and who had no trust [the faithless, unbelieving], who were servants of evil and perverted the image of Man [the despicable, vile, foul], who wanted to destroy the sacred [murderers], who went along impure paths of soul [sexually immoral, whoremongers], who worked with forces of evil [witches, practitioners of the magic arts], who bound themselves to evil beings [idolaters, idol-worshippers]—and all who served the Lie [liars of every kind]—their share will be on the lake which burns as with fire and sulfur; that is the second death, the death of the soul [the death after death].”

4^th November Trinity

November 20, 2011

Rev. 21: 1-8

Life can be compared to a great wheel. Any point on the rim of the wheel is sometimes up, sometimes down. Nevertheless, that place on the rim always comes down on a different spot; for the whole purpose of a wheel is to move forward, to make progress.

We have come to the point in the wheel of the church year where one great cycle is ending. This is the last Sunday before the new beginning at Advent. And appropriately, the reading helps us look at the great cosmic rounds in which we are involved. We hear ‘Behold, I am creating all anew!’

In the next round, what will emerge is a beauteous dwelling place for God in the midst of humanity. It is a city, being built, now, by humankind. The dwelling place for God is created by all the noble, true and beautiful deeds of human beings over the aeons. We ourselves are helping build the new city of God at the center of the new heaven and the new earth.

For as the poet David Whyte says:

….You were there in the beginning

you heard the story, you heard the merciless

and tender words telling you where you had to go.

Exile is never easy and the journey

itself leaves a bitter taste. But then,

when you heard that voice, you had to go.

You couldn't sit by the fire, you couldn't live

so close to the live flame of that compassion

you had to go out in the world and make it your own

so you could come back with

that flame in your voice, saying listen...

this warmth, this unbearable light, this fearful love...

It is all here, it is all here.[1]

---

[1] David Whyte, “In the Beginning” in Fire in the Earth

3rd November Trinity 2009, Too Small

3^rd November Trinity

Revelation 7: 9-17

Next I looked and saw a great crowd beyond anyone’s power to count, from every nation and all races and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb draped in garments of white and with palm branches in their hands, and they shout with a great voice saying,  “Healing and help [salvation] to our God who sits on the throne and through the Lamb.”

And all the angels were standing in a ring around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and they fell down in front of the throne upon their faces and adored God saying,

Yea, so be it. Amen. [To our God be blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength for an age of ages. Amen.”]

All the blessing power of the Word, that creating permeates the world, all the revealing might of the spirit, that enlightens the senses appearance, all the light of wisdom that leads us to true knowledge, the secret of transformation which gives worth to all being, that brings the world forward, and all the strength and power of the spirit –they belong to our God from aeon to aeon. Yea, so be it, Amen.

And one of the elders spoke up, asking me: “These people draped in garments of white, who are they and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Good sir, you yourself know.”

And he said to me:

These are the ones just come from the great Suffering. They washed their garments clean, and made them shining white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is why they can stand here before the throne of God

And serve him day and night in his temple.

The One who sits on the throne shall settle down upon them [dwell upon them].

They shall not hunger ever again, nor thirst again;

The sun shall not bear down too hard upon them, nor anything burn them,

Because the Lamb, in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd

And guide them to the springs of the water of life,

And God will wipe away each teardrop from  their eyes.

3^rd November Trinity

November 15, 2009

Revelation 7: 9-17

When a child gets hurt, the grownup naturally responds with empathy. He or she holds the child, rocks it, soothes it. The adult feels the child’s pain, and accompanies the child’s suffering.

One of the central issues of human lives is the question of suffering. Why does it exist? What is its purpose and meaning? This is the question raised by the ancient story of Job. As Job’s story begins, he is a wealthy and prosperous man. He loses everything.

Today’s reading suggests one answer: to suffer is to cleanse, to strip away that which prevents us from seeing God. We have sunk so deeply into earthly matter, into earthly matters. The way of being that allows us to operate well in the earthly sphere closes the door to our perception of God. We have shrunk to being mere humans on earth. We are no longer aware of ourselves as a spirit among spirits. We have lost our perception of God. In order to perceive Him, and our relationship to Him, we need to be cleansed of our materialism. And such cleansing is accompanied by suffering.

It seems unfair in a way that God so made the world that his creatures must

Ghent Altarpiece

suffer on their way to Him. But the reading also presents our seeing with an important picture. It is the image of God as the Lamb. The Lamb, too, has suffered. This is God the Son, who here, today is with and within every human being; who continues to suffer alongside, inside all who suffer. He offers us His own blood to cleanse earthly matter. He leads us through our process of cleansing and suffering, through all our greater and smaller deaths. He brings us to the wellspring of the waters of ever renewing eternal life. He wipes away our tears as we undergo our own cleansing, our own process of transformation. If we listen we can hear, inside, His words in the words of the poet:

When your vision has gone

no part of the world can find you.

… Time to go into the dark….

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love….

You must learn one thing:

…Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Learn [that]…anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] David Whyte, “Sweet Darkness” in House of Belonging