Showing posts with label Flame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flame. Show all posts

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Whitsun (Pentecost) 2022, The Human Form Divine

Pentecost

John 14:23-31 

Tina Chwala
Jesus replied, "Whoever truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [or, an eternal dwelling]. Whoever 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. 

"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 according to the Father's purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [or, let us be on our way.]

Whitsun (Pentecost)

June 5, 2022

John 14: 23-31 

Many seeds, like sunflower seeds, are often flame-shaped. If we could see behind the way they look to our ordinary senses, we would see that they are indeed little flames, glowing with life, awaiting the right conditions.
 

Ain Vares
On that fiftieth day after Easter, described in Acts 2, the disciples were in the upper room where the Last Supper had been held. They were all together of one accord. They heard the rushing sound of a mighty breath, and flames appeared above each head. Suddenly they understood the meaning of Christ’s life. They were enlightened and filled with wisdom. Glowing with enthusiasm, they begin to pour out love in words and deeds. That day they baptized, immersing in the waters of life, three thousand people gathered from all around the world. 

The heart seeds of the next phase of Christ’s life had begun to burn within them, to burst into creative flame and grow. A new kind of human form is born –  a human form connected with its origins in the Father, working with the Spirit through Christ the Son. This new humanity is described by Blake: 

Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love

Is God our Father dear,

And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

Is Man, His child and care.

 

For Mercy has a human heart

Pity a human face

And Love, the human form divine

And Peace, the human dress.* 

Christ came to earth as the Divine Human Being. Christ comes again, in us, through us, in the Human Form Divine. He manifests his Spirit as mercy and forgiveness in human hearts, as the compassion and empathy shining from human faces. He takes form as deeds of Love, clothed in Peace. “My peace I give you,” He says. It is a peace that comes from connecting with our own divinity through Him. 

The seeds of the Human Form Divine have been planted in all human hearts. They burn there quietly. They are waiting until hearts drink in Him, who is the water of life. Then will the Human Form Divine arise. Then do his flames of love and peace reveal His Spirit through human hearts, shining from human faces, in human form. Then do Christ’s deeds become what we do.  

* William Blake, “The Divine Image,” in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, J. K. Morrison, p. 139

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Whitsun 2020, Baptized with Fire


Pentecost
John 14:23-31
Jan van Kalkar

Jesus replied, “Whoever truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. Whoever 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.

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 according to the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Pentecost I

John 14:23-31
May 31, 2020

Codex Egberti
In the event of the Pentecost festival that we celebrate today, the disciples are together in the upper room, praying together and waiting. The mighty wind of the spirit blows through and a spirit fire descends and tongues of flame appear above the heads of each. Their understanding of the events of Jesus’ life and death lights up. Legend has it that at that moment, each disciple uttered one sentence of his understanding, which came together as a whole in the creed.

The gospel reading seems to veil this event. Yet its elements are there: Christ speaks of preserving each individual by preparing for each their own spiritual dwelling place. Their uniqueness will not be erased. And at the same time, Christ brings a harmonizing peace. His is not the peace of suppression, like the Romans of His time, but rather the peace of freedom and understanding. The source of world strife, the narrow insistence on one’s own point of view as the only valid one, is fitted harmoniously into a greater whole. Instead of nullifying each other, each sentence contributes to a greater understanding of the whole. They do not invalidate each other.

This is the Spirit that Christ sends: A holistic spirit, the spirit of enlightenment. It is a spirit, creative of being, that enkindles a fire of love. It is a spirit that heals the rifts and tears in the body politic, in our interactions with one another. For together we are forming a higher body for Christ to live and work in. Christ sends his Spirit of love for the healing of the world. The original event is a model:

They all sat silent, watching, waiting, waiting….
Sr. Mary Stephen
Suddenly the heavens broke upon them
And sevenfold lightning flashed
And whirlwind swept all darks asunder
And tongues of flame descended on them.

Baptized they were with Fire, with the Holy Spirit,
The Word of Christ was born in them.
And so they rose
            And went out to the multitude,
Disciples of Christ—His Life, His Death—
Bearers of the Word to all humankind.*

*Adapted from Francis Edmunds, “Words for Whitsun”