Whitsun II, 2013, Be Ignited

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.]

Whitmonday

May 20, 2013

John 14: 23 -31

To grow a garden, there are a few requirements. First one needs a living seed, for one cannot plant stones and expect something living to emerge. Then one needs to plant the seed at the right time, according to its nature. For it needs the  warmth and light of the right season in order to enkindle. And a garden needs the warmth of our loving attention.

We are all living seeds planted in God’s garden. For the Father’s creative spirit is life. He has chosen the right season for us, so that we will receive the light we need. For the Father’s spirit is light. And He lovingly tends us, so that we will grow to blossom and nourish the world. For the Father’s Spirit is love.

As Mary Oliver says:

All summations have a beginning

All effect has a story

All kindness begins with the sown seed.

Thought buds toward radiance.

The gospel of light is the crossroads of—

Indolence or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Mary Oliver, “What I Have Learned So Far”, in New and Selected Poems, Volume Two. Picture artist unknown.

4th February Trinity 2014, Let It Go

Feb. Trinity

(Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7^th Sunday before Easter)

Luke 18: 18-34

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, [Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said… Mk 10:21] “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions, and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

Hoffman

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle, than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Collot d' Herbois

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife, or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him; but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

4^th February Trinity

March 2, 2014

Luke 18: 18-34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are anticipating the richness of spring and the fullness of summer; But below the equator it is autumn and winter that are approaching. This is a picture of a great truth on the soul level:  over the whole of a lifetime, no matter what our riches, we must pass through loss and death to arrive at new life.

This is brought home to the rich young man in the gospel reading. He is rich, both inwardly and outwardly; he is in the summer of his development.  But Christ is asking him to take the next step—a step into an autumn shedding, the step into a winter sleep. He is to become a Lazarus, one who leaves behind a topside wealth for the good of others and lays down his life.

At this moment in the gospel, the young man is very sad—he experiences already the grief of loss. But in following Christ, he will be called forth to a whole new level of being. His loss and death will be real and complete. But so will his completely new and unforeseen life.  For Christ will intimately and continuously accompany his further development –through loss and death, and into a further life. The poet Mary Oliver says:

Every year

everything

Rembrandt

I have ever learned

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

is salvation

….

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.*

www.thechristiancommunity.org

*Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods”

3rd February Trinity 2011, God of Mercy

1st February Trinity

Matthew 20:1-16

The kingdom of the heavens is like a man, the master of his house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Agreeing to pay them one denarius a day, he sent them out into his vineyard.

At about 9 o’clock he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go also into my vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.” So they went.

He went out again at about noon and at 3 o’clock and did the same. At 5 o’clock he went out and found others standing there, and he said to them, “Why do you stand here all day idle?” They said, “Because no one has hired us.” He said, “You, too, go into the vineyard.”

And when evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”

Those who had been hired at 5 o’clock came forward, and each received one denarius. Therefore, when it was the turn of those who were hired first, they expected to receive more. However, they too also received one denarius each. They took it, but they began to grumble against the master of the house. “These men who were hired last only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”

However, he answered one of them, saying, “Friend, I am not being unjust to you. Did you not agree with me for one denarius? Take what you have earned and go. I wish to give to the man hired last the same as I give to you. Have I not the right to do as I wish with what is mine? Or do you give me an evil look because I am generous? Thus will the last be first and the first will one day be last. “

3rd February Trinity

February 20, 2011

Matthew 20, 1 – 16

Some flowers, like tulips and crocuses, bloom early. Some like roses, bloom all season long. The autumn crocus, however, blooms late. One form of it is the source of the costly spice, saffron.

Human beings appear on fields of earth early, for a long season, or late. The gospel reading, as scripture often does, warns us about judging the value of a human being and his or her contribution to the fields of earthly and heavenly endeavor. The value of their contribution is not fully visible to human view. The Master of the house and vineyard is the full judge of the orchestration of human efforts, especially in more hidden spiritual matters. We each receive our ‘one denarius,’ the means for our daily bread. We each receive our integrity, our singleness of purpose, from the Master, who gives us what we need according to his generous mercy.

Those who worked the whole day complained that they had borne the heat of the day and the burden of the work. Those who had waited out the day, idle in the marketplace, had also borne the heat of the day, along with suffering the burden of unemployment. Without them and their fresh efforts at the end of the day, it is possible that the day’s harvest may not have been completed.

There is no place in spiritual matters for ambition or greed. We all receive the just compensation for our time, our work and our suffering. The God of Mercy sustains us all. For we are all making our contribution to the universe. Mary Oliver says:

On a summer morning

I sat down

on a hillside

to think about God -

a worthy pastime.

Near me, I saw

a single cricket;

it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.

How great was its energy,

how humble its effort.

Let us hope

it will always be like this,

each of us going on

in our inexplicable ways

building the universe.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]   Mary Oliver, “Song of the Builders” in Why I Wake Early

1st February Trinity 2012, Loving the World

1st February Trinity

Matthew 20: 1-16

The kingdom of the heavens is like a man, the master of his house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Agreeing to pay them one denarius a day, he sent them out into his vineyard.

At about 9 o’clock he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go also into my vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.” So they went.

He went out again at about noon and at 3 o’clock and did the same. At 5 o’clock he went out and found others standing there, and he said to them, “Why do you stand here all day idle?” They said, “Because no one has hired us.” He said, “You, too, go into the vineyard.”

And when evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”

Those who had been hired at 5 o’clock came forward, and each received one denarius. Therefore, when it was the turn of those who were hired first, they expected to receive more. However, they too also received one denarius each. They took it, but they began to grumble against the master of the house. “These men who were hired last only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”

However, he answered one of them, saying, “Friend, I am not being unjust to you. Did you not agree with me for one denarius? Take what you have earned and go. I wish to give to the man hired last the same as I give to you. Have I not the right to do as I wish with what is mine? Or do you give me an evil look because I am generous? Thus will the last be first and the first will one day be last. “

 1^st February Trinity

Feb 5, 2012

Matthew 20:1-16

The story in today’s reading seems to be about fairness. Those who worked the entire day feel entitled to more than a day’s wage, because those who seemed to do less received the same day’s wage.

But on a social level, the story is actually about a generosity that is beyond fairness. The master, the great and generous heart of the world, would give daily bread, sustenance to all. Human dignity requires that all be sustained, regardless of circumstance. That is also our own human task—to work to feed others, not just ourselves.

On yet another level, this story is also about the wider reasons we labor on earth at all. Each day we come back from the fields of night, where we received our inspirations for the work of earth. We are all day laborers working on our own sense of self, our own integrity, our own great-heartedness. To be without outer work is to suffer loss of meaning, loss of relationships to others, loss of a sense of self and one’s place in the community.

For we have all come to labor on the fields of earth to build up our own inner strength, and to join with others in doing God’s work of earth. The poet Mary Oliver wrote:

My work is loving the world.

….Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

astonished.

Which is mostly rejoicing….

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Mary Oliver, “Messenger”, in Thirst

3rd Advent 2013, Promise

3rd Advent 

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal.

3^rd Advent

December 15, 2013

1 Thessalonians 5, 1-8, 23, 24

The Advent prayers speak of the chariot of the sun, whose path inscribes an arc in the heavens. The mention of a chariot implies a Being that travels in it. In myth He is called Helios. He daily rises from the edge of the world, dispelling the darkness. He sets into the darkness at the end of the day, to rise again, moving time forward.

The prayers also speak of the bow of color, which also inscribes an arc in the skies. In mythology she is called Iris, the messenger of the gods. The interplay of light and darkness, of water and air, of Helios and Earth, create Iris the many colored rainbow. Her message has always been a promise; she brings hope.

Our deepest hope is that one day, Heaven and earth will become one; that the wounds of worlds will be healed; that love and peace will reign because Helios and Earth’s sons and daughters will hear Iris’s message. Her message continuously calls us, invites us to work on the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. All of creation is waiting for us. As the poet Mary Oliver says in a poem called “The Fist”, in Thirst:

Sulamith Wulfing

There are days

when the sun goes down

like a fist,

though of course

if you see anything

in the heavens this way

you had better get

your eyes checked

or, better still,

your diminished spirit.

The heavens

have no fist,

or wouldn't they have been

shaking it

for a thousand years now,

and even longer than that,

….

Instead: such patience!

Such willingness

to let us continue!

To hear,

little by little,

the voices -

only, so far, in

pockets of the world -

suggesting the possibilities

of peace?

Keep looking.

Behold, how the fist opens

with invitation.

www.thechristiancommunity.org