3rd St. Johnstide 2008, Appalling Goodness

St. Johnstide

van der Weyden

John 1: 19-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

The next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him. And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, “Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through whom humanity’s sense of self will be purified.]”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”They answered, “Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying [where do you live] [where do you take refuge]?” He said, “Come and you will see!”

And they came and saw where he stayed [lived], and remained with him all that day. It was about the tenth hour [four o’clock].

3^rd St. Johnstide

July 13, 2008

John 1: 19-34

Both illness and recovery are mysterious processes. Out of the blue, it seems, we “catch” a cold. We run a fever. No matter what we do, we don’t recover until the illness has run its course. Then healing, equally mysterious, arrives too, on its own. We can  experience healing as grace.

In the seasonal prayer, St. John the Baptist speaks in words of flame. His flame-words are described first of all as health-bearing; for all human souls are suffering from an illness, the sickness of being separated from their own divine origin. John’s health-bearing flame word is like a soul-fever, designed aid the process of healing.

His flame words are also ‘guilt-conscious’. In the light and heat of the fire of his words, we become aware that we are ill. We were created in God’s image and likeness. This sickness means that we are failing to live up to our truly divine human nature and task. The sickness of sin has laid us low. As one of the mystics describes it:,

When I enter that darkness I cannot

recall a bit about anything human,

or about the God-man.[1]

Mengs

Once awareness arrives, burning shame and guilt are the result.

But John’s words are also ‘grace-divining’. In our state of illness we look for the medicine and the healing. And it has indeed been given us. It is in the descending of the true Spirit of the human being, the Healing Spirit, into Jesus, the Christ. He takes upon Himself the burden of the sin, the separation of the world. He is the medicine for our illness.

The burning fever of the longing for healing is found in the depth of the heart. It is this flame of longing that begins the process of purification, in which the heart rises in love toward our Healer. Health-bearing, guilt-conscious, grace-divining describe the interaction between the human and the divine.

Again the mystic:

The [healing] embrace of God puts fire to the soul,

by which the soul entire is felt to burn

for Christ, accompanied by a light so great the soul

suspects the immensity of God’s appalling goodness. [2]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Blessed Angela of Foligno, “The Darkness”, in Love’s Immensity, by Scott Cairns, p. 89.

[2] Ibid, “His Blazing Embrace” , pg. 88.

3rd St. Johnstide 2009, Hope Flares

St. Johnstide

John 1: 19-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

Sombart

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

The next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him. And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, “Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through whom humanity’s sense of self will be purified.]”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”

They answered, “Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying [where do you live] [where do you take refuge]?”

He said, “Come and you will see!”

And they came and saw where he stayed [lived], and remained with him all that day. It was about the tenth hour [four o’clock].

3^rd St. Johnstide

July 12, 2009

John 1: 19-39

There are two forces, two streams that flow side by side within our human constitution. One is the instinct for self-preservation. The other is for the perpetuation of the species. These two streams rise from deep within our soul-bodily constitution. They are symbolized by the twin serpents of wisdom, twining upward around our spinal column. They guard and protect our selfhood, our life, and ensure the perpetuation of the human race.

John takes pains to speak what he sees: in Christ Jesus, John sees and proclaims that there is a new image arising in the constitution of man, the image of the lamb. He is seeing the emergence of a new human archetype.

Memling

As a young animal, the snowy white lamb represents upwelling, joyous new life. But ironically, this is an animal that offers no resistance when its own life is taken.

The old double serpent is being metamorphosed into the lamb. The wise serpent of self preservation is metamorphosing itself into an image of outspreading and self-sacrificing life. And the wise serpent of the generative force that perpetuates family and tribe is metamorphosing and rising into the innocent purity of an outpouring love for all of humanity.

John says ‘The lamb in us must increase; the serpents must decrease.’ Naturally we don’t like metamorphosis or self-sacrifice; for us, they are hugely threatening; it feels too much like a death. It takes courage to change one’s whole disposition. It takes courage to say with the poet:

I praise life's bright catastrophes,

and all the ceremonies of grief.

I praise our real estate - a shadow and a grave.

I praise my destroyer,

and will continue praising

until hours run like mercury

through my fingers, hope flares a final time

into the last throes of innocence,

and all the coins of sense are spent.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] “I Praise My Destroyer”, Diane Ackerman

2nd St. Johnstide 2007, Word of Flame

John 1: 29-34

Carracia

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 1, 2007

John 1: 29-34

In the very broadest sense, sin, wrongdoing, errors and failures are deviations from the overall plan that the divine world has for us, and for all of mankind. Through wrongdoing we have become separated from God and His angels. We have walled ourselves off from the flow of the meaning, the love, the goodness that unites all creatures in their ongoing evolving. This is painful both for the divine world and for us.

Paschal Lamb, Ghent Altar

Christ, the World Physician, came to heal the sickness and pain that arises from our having separated ourselves. John describes Christ as the Lamb who takes upon Himself the burden of the wrongdoing of Mankind. The Lamb does not, cannot take away the consequences of our misdeeds. The compensation for our wrongdoing is our own task and responsibility.

But Christ carries for us the weight of the burden of our misdeeds. He bears our misdeeds within Himself, sheltering them in forgiveness, so that their future resolution can be dealt with creatively, so that our compensations can serve mankind’s ongoing evolution.  When we recognize and take responsibility for our failings, and when we then take in Christ’s loving acceptance and forgiveness of them, then He sends us His Healing Spirit. His Healing Spirit cleanses the cause of our illness: it purifies us of egotism. The Healing Spirit inspires in us the creative healing of our destiny relationships. It is when we accept both our own responsibility and Christ’s empowering love and healing Spirit that we can see our way forward.

John’s guilt-conscious health-bearing word of flame is: “Change your way of thinking! Change your heart and mind!”  This is the preparation that allows us to hear and respond to Christ’s continually resounding invitation – “Come and see!” John 1:34

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd St. Johnstide 2009, Greet them All

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.

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.

Sombart

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]

July 5, 2009

Mark 1, 1 – 11

Through the fire of the sun, seeds are forming in the cups of the flowers.

Once the seeds fall to earth and are watered, they will burst open and a new life will begin.

In today’s reading, Jesus, the purest and most perfectly developed seed of humankind is dipped into the waters and opens. At the same time, the healing spirit descends into the seed of mankind, needy of healing on the field of earth, and a new kind of life for us begins.

It all started with a human soul that was open, open to change, open to becoming something, even someone, else, someone totally new. And therein lies the healing. In opening ourselves in study and prayer, in conversation, we are allowing ourselves the opportunity to change heart and mind. We are allowing something or someone else to enter into our souls. We are allowing ourselves to be fructified, baptized by sun-fire, so that something new can develop and grow in us. Even in everyday life, we can practice this opening daily. Rumi said,

This being human is a guest-house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you

out for some new delight.

 …meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi, “The Guest-House”, in Say I Am You: Poetry Interspersed with Stories of Rumi and Shams, Translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Maypop, 1994.

2nd St. Johnstide 2010, God Pours Light

St. Johnstide

John 1: 19-28, 29-34, 35-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.”“Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Habegger

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that

this is God’s Son.”

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 4, 2010

John 1: 19 – 34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the daylight is beginning its decline, while in the Southern half, the days are just beginning to grow longer. The light of the whole world rises and falls like a slow, giant see-saw. The shorter days on one side are balanced by longer days on the other.

John the Baptist points to Christ and calls Him the Lamb of God who takes upon Himself the burden of the sins of the world. Humankind has so overburdened world destiny on the dark side, that it takes a great and ongoing sacrificial deed of light to balance it out. And so it is: Christ continues to shine the light of His ongoing sacrificial deeds into the world to balance out its darkness.

Today in the US we are celebrating the great gift of freedom. To us human beings, God grants the freedom of choice: we can continue to choose thoughts, words and deeds of darkness, or those of light. Some human beings open themselves, open their hearts like a chalice, to the Christ-light. The healing Spirit descends upon them too, even if only for moments, as it did for Jesus at His Baptism. They catch fire, and begin to shine Christ’s light into the world along with Him. They add the brightness of their human light deeds to His, to help add to the balance of light overcoming the darkness. For as the poet says:

God

pours light

into every cup,

quenching darkness.

….God pours light

and the trees lift their limbs

without worry of redemption,

every blossom a chalice.

….light

pours like rain

into every empty cup

set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  Hafiz, (Interpretive version of Ghazal 11 by Jose Orez)

2nd St. John's Tide 2014, Weight is Love

St. Johnstide

John 1: 19-28, 29-34, 35-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul (self).”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit.’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

2^nd St. John’s Tide

July 6, 2014

John 1: 19-34

Today’s reading begins with questions about identity. The Hebrew leadership asks John the Baptist who he is. In all humility he acknowledges that he is not the Messiah, the anointed one of God. They ask him if he is Elijah, who was to precede the coming of the Messiah. And although Christ says later that ‘ he is Elijah who was to come’, [1] either John no longer remembers his previous existence, or else he is making the claim that he is no longer working in the grandiose style of the great prophetic leader of the Hebrews. Instead he claims to be a single voice, speaking from lonely and deserted place, saying: Make preparations.  John is who he is; he voices what needs to be said in the moment. He awakens our sense of personal responsibility.

In fact John the Baptist epitomizes the state of the modern soul. We are who we are, now. We no longer remember previous lives - we may not even remember our current yesterdays! John in us is the single voice in us, speaking  in the now, telling ourselves that we must prepare ourselves so that Christ can enter into us and abide in us.

We need to strengthen and create order in our thoughts, in our feeling life, so that an inner space arises, a space that stretches into a path for the entry of the Lamb of God. Christ came as the Lamb in order to carry the burden of human separation from the divine. This separation from the divine has created our capacity for our sins, our failings, our weaknesses. It creates our errors and our denials of the divine.

Christ, the divine Son, the God, would enter our souls so as to overcome our lonely separateness, and to reunite us with our Father. We open our souls to him. We strengthen and order our souls’ forces so that our thinking, our feeling and our willing can become strong, weight-bearing, enduring; so that we, with Christ, can peacefully and lovingly carry the burden of the sin of the world. For as the poet says:

Salvatore Mundi, Leonardo da Vinci

The weight of the world

is love.

Under the burden

of solitude,

under the burden

of dissatisfaction

the weight,

the weight we carry

is love.[2]

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[1] Matthew 11:14

[2] “Song”,  Allen Ginsberg , in Collected Poems 1947-1980

2nd St. Johnstide 2013, Attention is Interest

St. Johnstide

John 1: 19-28, 29-34, 35-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

Egbert Codex

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

The next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him. And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, “Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through whom humanity’s sense of self will be purified.]”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”

They answered, “Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying [where do you live] [where do you take refuge]?”He said, “Come and you will see!”

And they came and saw where he stayed [lived], and remained with him all that day. It was about the tenth hour [four o’clock].

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 7, 2013

John 1: 19 – 39

Each of us, at the core of our being, has an eternal self. This eternal Self clothes itself in different personalities, with its own particular time and destiny. Our self-awareness is usually limited to our current incarnation. The eternal core self is hard to find, hard to recognize.

When John the Baptist is asked who he is, he answers from an awareness of his temporal self. ‘I am not Elijah, not the Christ, not the prophet.’ At the same time he is clear about his personal destiny - that he came to baptize.

He is also clear about Jesus’ identity. He sees past Jesus’ earthly personality to His eternal core as the Lamb of God, upon whom the Spirit of God descended and remained. And he is aware that his own destiny is to serve Christ Jesus.

Awareness of one’s own eternal core Self is a gift of grace. Perhaps it is more important to develop an awareness of the eternal selves of others than it is to look for our own eternal core. Perhaps it is more important for us to stand as witnesses for each other – to recognize, as John did, the eternal self of the other, to accompany their destiny. Perhaps this is part of the change of heart and mind that John advocates: that we turn away from self-involvement, toward a humble support of others. As someone said:

Attention is not concentration.  Attention is interest.  If you’re interested in something, then you’re attentive.  And if you’re attentive, you discover many things.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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