3rd June Trinity 2009, The Chorus

June Trinity

John 3: 1-17

There was a man in the circle of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus; he held high rank among the Jews. He came to Jesus in the night and said, “Master, we know that you are a high teacher of mankind, come to us from God, for no one can do such signs of the Spirit as you do unless God himself is working together with him in his deeds.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “The truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever is not born anew from above cannot behold the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he return to his mother’s womb to be born again a second time?

Jesus answered, “the truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever remains as he is, and does not come to a new birth out of the formative power of the water and out of the breath of the spirit [or, …and is not born anew out of the spiritual power of eternal becoming and out of being touched by the might of the spirit world] cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What is born out of earthly elements is of earthly nature. But what is born out of the breath of the spirit, is itself spirit. Do not wonder that I said to you that you must be born anew from above. The spirit wind blows where it will; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born anew out of the breath of the spirit.

Nicodemus replied and said to him, “How can one attain this?”

            Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and do not know? Amen, the truth I say to you: we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen in the spirit, but none of you accepts our testimony. When I speak to you of earthly things and you do not believe them, how shall you believe when I want to speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ascended to the spiritual world who has not previously descended out of the spiritual world, that is, the Son of Man.

           Just as Moses once lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who finds his power in their hearts can win a share in the higher life beyond time. God has so loved the world that he has given his only begotten Son. From now on, no one who fills himself with his power shall perish, for he will share in timeless, higher life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but in order that the world be saved [healed] through him, and not fall prey to ruin.”

3^rd June Trinity

June 21, 2009

John 3: 1-17

Every night we surrender our bodies and enter the realm of God and his angels. There we are fed and repaired. In the morning we return to the house of the body; we awaken refreshed and, as it were, reborn.

Nicodemus meets with Christ in the realm which we enter at night. Christ tells him there of the necessity of being reborn on yet another level. Not physically, nor in the daily way of waking up, but on an even greater level.

For even when we are awake, we are all of us asleep, dreaming the dream of our ordinary lives. Yet behind this world is the real world, the mighty world from which originates all that is evolving. It is a place in which we are not ordinarily conscious. It is a place where we can hear the sound of God’s breath as He breathes the breath of new life into everything at every moment; where our life is His creating life. Christ urges Nicodemus, urges us all, to awaken into this realm, to be born into this higher life beyond time. It will take us a while; we ‘take our waking slow’. But we have all caught glimpses. The poet asks:

Your great mistake is to act the drama

as if you were alone.  ….Surely,

even you, at times, have felt the grand array;

the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding

out your solo voice. [1]

So may we, in this life 

trust

to those elements 

we have yet to see…[2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] “Everything is Waiting for You”, David Whyte, in Everything is Waiting for You.

[2] David Whyte, “Working Together”, in House of Belonging. 

3rd Whitsun 2014, Healing Spirit's Light

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whituesday III

Raphael

June 10, 2014

John 14: 23 – 31

When God created the world, his living spirit of love created an order to the world and purpose, a plan for us. This plan involves our learning to love; learning to choose to love others and the world through our won free choice. Eventually the Father sent his eternal Son, his Creating One, to the earth. Christ came as a human being in order to teach and to heal. Ultimately he also came to suffer, to die and to rise to life again.

He demonstrates how we are to live. We are to live in peace; we are to live without fear; for only so can we learn to love.

Aligning ourselves with Christ allows the Father’s all-encompassing love and his plan for us to live and work in us’ working in us it is the healing, holy spirit. The healing spirit brings us the warmth of compassion, the light of understanding. It brings us the light of an awareness that we are all sons and daughters of God. We all, like Christ, are spiritual beings having a human experience. We are all human beings learning to love, to live, to be aware of the divine in everything. This is the healing spirit, the truth that embraces all.

May we in our human state grasp the healing spirit, the spirit of love, the spirit of understanding the shining, living truth. For as 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]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

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

4th Passiontide Palm Sunday 2009, Ashes of Your Life

4^th Passiontide

John August Swanson

Palm Sunday

Matthew 21: 1-11

And they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage by the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples ahead and said to them, “Go to the village which you see before you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there and her foal with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will let you take them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

‘Say to the daughter of Zion,

Behold, your king comes to you in majesty.

Gentle is He, and He rides on a donkey and on a foal of the beast of burden.’

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the foal, placed their garments on them, and Jesus sat on them.

           

Many out of the large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of them and followed Him shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the Name and Power of the Lord!

Hosannah in the highest! [Sing to Him in the highest heights!]

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is he?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

4^th Passiontide, Palm Sunday

April 8, 2009

Matthew 21: 1 – 11

In many parts of the world, Passion Plays are still performed. The drama of Holy Week is enacted, sometimes with whole villages participating.

Holy Week itself is a kind of cosmic drama. Each event, each gesture, each word has deep significance. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem is at the same time the entry into Holy Week.

The scene is staged by Christ himself. As the all-knowing director of the drama, He sends His disciples to fetch the props: two donkeys, a mother and her foal. The prophet Zechariah had already given part of the script:

Hippolyte Flanders

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem.

Behold your King is coming to you.

He is just and endowed with salvation

Humble and mounted on a donkey

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey! Zechariah 9:9

The people too, are familiar with the script. And when they see Him entering Jerusalem on a donkey, they know immediately, or think they know, what this means: their new king is entering his capital city, now lying under Roman occupation. And they play their part, shouting in triumph the words of David’s hymn. (Psalm 143)

We, too, in hindsight, know the script. And we know, as does the Director and true Author of the script, that a profound irony is being enacted. The people’s expectation of an earthly king will not be fulfilled. By the end of the week, enraged and disappointed, they will be calling for His execution.

Yet an even deeper current of meaning flows just beneath, and above the surface of the narrative. Something unexpected will happen. After three days His death will be transformed into a kingdom of Life. Rather than an earthly king of a particular people, He will become the regent of all human souls. The shattering of illusions, even death itself, cannot end what is here beginning. In the words of the poet:

William Holman Hunt

Sometimes with

the bones of the black

sticks left when the fire

has gone out

someone has written

something new

in the ashes

of your life.

You are not leaving, you are arriving.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] David Whyte, “The Journey”, in The House of Belonging.

4th Passiontide 2013, Bright Wedge of Freedom

Lorenzetti

4^th Passiontide

Palm Sunday

Matthew 21: 1-11

And they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage by the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples ahead and said to them, “Go to the village which you see before you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there and her foal with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will let you take them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

‘Say to the daughter of Zion,

Behold, your king comes to you in majesty.

Gentle is He, and He rides on a donkey and on a foal of the beast of burden.’

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the foal, placed their garments on them, and Jesus sat on them.

           

Many out of the large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of them and followed Him shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the Name and Power of the Lord!

Hosannah in the highest! [Sing to Him in the highest heights!]

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is he?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

4^th Passiontide,

Hippolyte Flandrin

Palm Sunday

March 24, 2013

Matthew 21: 1-11

Vessels, a jar, a bowl, carry contents. The content is on the inside, and the vessel surrounds it. But there is a complementary gesture; the person carrying the bowl carries both the bowl and its contents.

Christ Jesus enters Jerusalem borne on a beast of burden and its foal. This animal is a symbol of our physical body. The body bears the weight of our destiny and of our deeds. In the picture language of this symbol, Christ is both inside and outside. Christ is the content of the vessel of the body of Jesus; Jesus’ body is the vessel for Christ’s spirit of love. And at the same time, Christ rides above the bodily beast of burden. And he guides it regally toward its own suffering and death, and toward its resurrection.

We too are spiritual beings carried within a bodily vessel. Our body as a beast of destiny’s burden carries us, too, ultimately toward the end of earthly life that we all must approach.

But our hearts can connect with Christ. He can be the content of our souls, the ‘small, bright wedge of freedom in your own heart’,[1] as the poet says. And at the same time, He can be both content and the One carrying the vessel. Our heart’s connection with Christ gives us One who rides with us, guides us. He is riding both the old beast of destiny’s burden, and the young foal which will carry us into the future. He accompanies us on our journey with His strength and love.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] David Whyte, “The Journey”.

2nd Passiontide 2012, Hungry

2nd Passiontide

John 6: 16 - 26

Amadee Varin

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off over the sea for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "I AM, have no fear" Now when they wanted to take him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land, at the place where they wanted to go.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, the truth I say to you: You are seeking me not because you saw signs of spiritual power, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied. 

2^nd Passiontide

April 3, 2011

John 6: 16-25

The created world is full of wonders. Among the greatest of these wonders is the human form, the dwelling place of our spirits. Although we think of our body as solid, it is mostly flowing liquid. We live within a surging sea.

Roland  Tiller

The disciples are in a little boat when the wind and seas rise. On this surging sea they perceive their teacher. His appearance in such a place terrifies them; it seems to defy all logic. He calms them with the mysterious words: I AM. The meaning behind these two simple words in Hebrew is expanded into its full meaning in the hymn we sing: He who was, He who is, He who is to come. Or, I AM who I will become.

His ‘I AM’ is meant to convey to us that no matter what happens to the body, no matter how threatened or threatening the body may become, He, the Being of Love, is always present. His eternal loving uprightness is always present as a source of strength and courage for us. He encourages us not to fixate too much on the transitory things, on ‘the food that spoils’[1]. Rather we are to seek and find Him as a source of nourishment that feeds our own I AM, our spirits, the eternal part of our being. ‘I AM the Bread of Life, He says. ‘He who finds his way to me will hunger no more, and he who comes to me in faith and trust will nevermore thirst’.[2]

As the poet David Whyte says:

….

This is not

the age of information.

Forget the news,

and the radio,

and the blurred screen.

This is the time

of loaves

and fishes.

People are hungry

and one good word is bread

for a thousand. [3]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] John 6: 27

[2] John 6: 35

[3] David Whyte,  “Loaves and Fishes”

4th February Trinity 2009, The True Shape

3^rd, 4^th 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.

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.’”

  

Carl Bloch

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. 

4^th February Trinity

March 1, 2009

Matthew 4:1-11

The story of Christ’s temptation is the archetype of the three areas in which all human beings are tempted.

The first temptation is to concentrate on the material aspects of life. The devil tries to tempt Christ into magic-ing stones into bread. Christ’s answer points to the fact that the magic is already there, in the food; it is God’s creative power that bids what we eat, and thus we ourselves, to live. It is the divine life that nourishes us, not the mineral.

Vasily Surikov

The second temptation is to believe that we can do anything we want and that God will save us. Christ’s answer: No arrogance: God’s love is unconditional; nevertheless, we human beings will ourselves have to bear the consequences of our own deeds.

The third temptation is to misunderstand where true power comes from. True power comes from freely and voluntarily letting ourselves be guided by the divine. Divine guidance will ultimately lead us toward the kind of sacrificing of personal power out of love of others. This is something that the devil, the prince of this world, cannot comprehend—the power of sacrifice.

Christ’s answers to these three temptations are all linked by one theme: to remember the divine world from which you come; to volunteer in humility to take the creative guidance and sacrificial power of God’s realm into our thinking. This has become all the more urgent in our time, since we Westerners have essentially been nourishing ourselves on the stones of usury, worshipping our own prowess and testing the limits for far too long.

The poet David Whyte says:

We shape our self 

to fit this world

and by the world 

are shaped again.

The visible 

and the invisible

work[ing] together 

in common cause,

to produce 

the miraculous….

So may we, in this life 

trust

to those elements 

we have yet to see

or imagine, 

and look for the true

shape of our own self 

by forming it well

to the great 

intangibles about us.[1]

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] David Whyte, “Working Together”, in House of Belonging

3rd Epiphany 2010, One Word

3^rd Epiphany

Matthew 8, 1-13

When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. And behold, a man with leprosy approached him, and kneeling down before him said, “Lord, if you are willing, you are able to make me clean.”

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

And immediately he was cleared of his leprosy. And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one. But go and show yourself to the priests and offer to them the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony of your cleansing.”

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a Roman captain, leader of a hundred soldiers, approached him, pleading with him and saying, “Lord, my boy lies at home, paralyzed, suffering great pain.”

Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The centurion answered, saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Just say a word, and my boy will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. If I say one word to this one—‘Go, ’ he goes, and if I tell another ‘Come,’ he comes. If I tell my servant ‘Do this,’ he does it.

Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, the truth I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great power of trust. And I tell you, that many will come from the east and from the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the darkness of [godforsaken] external existence, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go home.  Let it be done to you as you have believed.”

And the boy was healed in that hour.

3^rd Epiphany

January 24, 2010

Matthew 8: 1-13

An object cast into the water creates ever expanding, ever widening circles of ripples. Once they reach the shore, the ripples turn back toward their origin.

The Gospel reading shows us the expanding circles of healing. The Jewish leper, alone and outcast, asks for Christ’s willingness for his own healing. By healing him, Christ carries him to the shore of his own community.

The Roman centurion asks for healing for his servant. Perhaps here there is a relationship that needs healing. The centurion clearly knows how to operate within a power hierarchy—taking orders from above, commanding those below. Naturally he treats his servant as he would an underling. But an authoritarian relationship has its limits. Perhaps the boy is reaching an age, in which an individual’s will needs to begin to exert itself. The boy’s will, however is paralyzed. By submitting to Christ’s spiritual power and authority, the centurion steps aside, so that Christ has direct spiritual and healing access to the boy himself. It is a relationship lesson for all of us.

The ripples of Christ’s healings expand beyond the borders of his own people. His healing works within the trust element that anyone places at His disposal. Physical distance is no hindrance.

In the Act of Consecration of Man, there is the moment when we too, place ourselves trustingly within the ever-broadening stream of Christ’s healing will. Like the centurion, we acknowledge that we are not worthy to have Him enter under our roof. But at the same time, in perfect trust, we acknowledge the power of His word to heal and to strengthen our own will. In the words of David Whyte,

  

It is not enough to know.

It is not enough to follow….

It is not enough to see straight ahead,

You must go to the place

where everything waits,

there, when you finally rest,

even one word will do,….

One word, one word only.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] David Whyte,  "It is Not Enough," from Where Many Rivers Meet.

New Year's Day 2012, Flame of Compassion

The Gospel of John, 1:1-18

transl. 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,

Roland Tiller

And the Life was the Light of mankind.

The Light sines in the Darkness,

And the Darkness did not grasp it.

There came to be a man, sent from God,

His name Ioannes.

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.

Holy Nights

January 1, 2012

John 1: 1-18

Words contain a great mystery. They are handed down to us by our parents. Words are a legacy of the memory of how the world is structured, structured with beings, with actions, with qualities. Words are also the garments of thoughts. Thoughts not only reflect the past; they can also create the future.

This creating power of the Word manifested in the ancient past as the creation of the world. The Word’s first creation: Let there be light. The Word became light.

The creative Word is still resounding as a sounding power, creating the future. Now it says: ‘Let there be love’. But unlike the first creation, this resounding of the Word requires our human cooperation. Human beings must hear it; human beings must take its creative power into themselves.

Christ Jesus is the prototype of the human being who takes into Himself the divine force of creating love and shines it forth as a revelation. Through Christ, through Christ living in us, working in us, God’s grace shines forth into the world. Through Christ living and working in us, the truth of human creation reveals itself: ‘I have said you are ‘gods’[1]. The poet expresses it thus:

You were there in the beginning

you heard the story, you heard the merciless

and tender words telling you where you had to go.

….

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.[2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] John 10:34-37 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?  If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?

Jesus’ reference is to Psalm 82: ‘God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”…. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

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

4th Advent 2013, Create a New World

4th Advent

Luke 1: 26-38

During the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a maiden engaged to a man named Joseph of the descendants of David, and the maiden’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said toward her, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was she was confused at those words, and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

Fra Angelico

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High,

And the Lord your God will give him the Throne of David your father.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever;

And his kingdom will have no end. “

And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have never known a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her,

 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

And for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your kinswoman Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For no word is spoken in the worlds of the spirit that does not have the power to become reality on earth.”

 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the Lord’s handmaid; may it be to me according to your word. “ And the angel departed from her.

4^th Advent

December 22, 2013

Luke 1: 26-38

In today’s reading we hear of an act of conception: the Holy Spirit descends upon the open soul; the dynamic creative power of the Most High surrounds her in a radiant cloud. And her offspring is called Son of God.

We too are involved in an ongoing act of conception. Invisible to most, angels hover around us. A spirit of wholeness wishes to descend upon open souls. The creative power of the Most High wishes to work in us.  FOR WE ARE TASKED WITH CREATING A NEW WORLD. Working with angelic hierarchies, we are to bring into being offspring that will populate a new heaven and a new earth.

The Act of Consecration of Man is the archetype of just such an act of conception. We open ourselves to the message of the angels; we receive a spirit of healing and peace. Our actions for this hour are guided by the divine world. Working together with divine beings, with Christ and the Father, we are creating eternal offspring that will live into the next age.

What we do here, what we do whenever we act out of the spirit of wholeness and peace, may be largely invisible. But its effects are more real, more lasting, of greater significance than most of what we see around us. For what we are generating is the future of the earth. For the poet says:

To remember

The Awakening, Thomas Cooper Gotch

the other world

in this world

is to live in your

true inheritance.

….

Now, looking through

the slanting light

of the morning

window toward

the mountain

presence

of everything

that can be,

what urgency

calls you to your

one love?  What shape

waits in the seed

of you to grow

and spread

its branches

against a future sky?[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] David Whyte, What to Remember Upon Waking, in House of Belonging. Picture: The Awakening, Thomas Cooper Gotch