1st Nov Trinity 2017, The Great Suffering

Durer

1st 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,
Yes, 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
Oct 29, 2017
Revelation 7:9-17

To extract the juice from the grape, it must be crushed. The useless is removed and the pure, and its strengthening essence is released. The grape must, so to speak, suffer so that its essence can flow outward.

In the gospel reading, we hear of those who have just come from the great suffering. From time to time, we too are crushed. It is not because we are evil and deserve punishment; it is because we are ripe. Our essence is ready to be separated out from the non-essential, from the useless in us. Meister Eckhart* writes:

   When I was the stream, when I was the forest….there was nothing
   I could not
   love.

   It was when I left all we once were that
   the agony began, the fear and the questions came
   and I wept, I wept, tears….

Christ is present within our suffering. He suffers within us. He wipes our tears.  He helps us separate the bitter from the sweet. He washes us clean and clear in the wine-blood of his lovingkindness. He leads us to the spring of ever-transforming life.  As Meister Eckhart continues:
 
   So I returned to the river, I returned to

   the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again.
   I begged—I begged to wed every object
   and creature,

   and when they accepted,
   God was ever present in my arms.

   …For then I knew my soul—every soul—
   has always held
   Him.*

Our purest essence, at the center of our being, is lovingkindness. Our true nature flows outward, to comfort and strengthen others. Our true nature is wise and knowing. Our true nature willingly undergoes a transformation so that the world’s evolution moves forward. We are crushed so that our pure essence, the lovingkindness of Christ in us, can flow out into the world.

*“When I was the Forest,” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, pg. 91

Visit our website! 

2nd Easter 2010, See As God Sees

2^nd Easter

John 20: 19-29

On the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said,

“Peace be with you!”

And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Full of joy the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on you shall work in human destinies with spiritual power, so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of their offences.”

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”

Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the inner room and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”

Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.”

And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.”

2^nd Sunday of Easter

April 11, 2010

John 20: 19-29

At first the blossom is enclosed in a hard, green bud. But slowly the warmth and light of the sun coax it open, until it unfurls its fragrance and beauty before the sun and the world.

Thomas was absent on the first Easter evening when Jesus appeared resurrected to His disciples. Thomas remained in the pain and despair over the loss of his beloved friend for a full week longer than the others. His heart shut down in grief. He refused to believe in rumors. He refused to jump to conclusions based on someone else’s experience. He needed to recognize and experience the Risen One for himself, face to face and hand to hand.

On the one hand, this is an admirable quality, this refusing to fall for rumors. On the other hand, once he is presented with the reality of the Risen One, Christ encourages him to overcome his heart’s rigidity, and to instead allow trust in the Christ power to enter his heart.

Trusting in the Risen One is also a dilemma for us moderns. Deep in our hearts, too, there lies a yearning for substantial evidence, for proof. We, too, long for an encounter, for overwhelming evidence. But Christ’s comment to Thomas indicates to us a hidden pathway: “Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.” John 20: 29

To find His power in our hearts is the goal of our existence. And what is His power in our hearts?

It is the power that rises to life in the face of all loss.  It is the power of love that sacrifices self-interest for the furtherance of others.   It is the power of love that overcomes death. In the words of Meister Eckhart:

Divine love will be eternally true to its own being,

And its being is giving all it can,

At the perfect

Moment.

And the greatest gift

God can give is His own experience.

…and it is the destiny of all,

to see as God sees, to know as God knows,

to feel as God feels, to Be

as God

is.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Meister Eckhart, “To See as God Sees”, in Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 120

1st Advent 2008, Calm Watch

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 30, 2008

Luke 21: 25 – 36

One can watch a rose in the process of blossoming over time: what was enclosed, inside the bud, opens and unfurls in a profusion of petals. In the center is a crown with pollen. What takes place there at the center with pollination is gradually drawn down and inward again. The crown draws inward, becomes the cluster of seeds enclosed in the fruit.

Our experience of the world at any moment is often divided into polarities like inner and outer. But we can see, if we look closely, that, over time, like the rose, inner becomes outer and outer becomes inner, in a kind of breathing.

Today’s Gospel reading has something of this same quality. It starts with a profusion of outer signs, in sun, moon and stars. They are transported inward and become fear and anxiety. But at the same time, like the crown of the rose, the Son of Man appears ‘in great radiance and glory.’ He seems to come from outside, ‘in a cloud’. And yet His qualities, His uprightness, His soul rising to the spirit, can also be absorbed inwardly by human beings. The outer becomes inner. He gives inner strength and uprightness and awakens prayer.

The reading makes it clear that the quality and accuracy of our perception is of utmost importance. For perception is the doorway, the entryway into our souls. We are to keep the threshold clear and free of the debris of material excess and free of worry. We are to keep calm and open watch at the doorway of the soul and recognize the signs: just as new leaves signal summer’s return, so do dire outer signs signal the approach, the nearness of the Divine Human Being. We are to perceive His presence. We are to invite Him into the soul’s house, take Him in. For He is our heart’s calm center.

Sanz-Cardona

Meister Eckhart wrote,

What is the prayer of a heart grown calm

in the peace of God?

From such a purity one no longer prays

as we are wont to pray.

…A heart in calm detachment asks

for nothing, nor has anything

it would wish to shed.

Its prayer is finally only for uniformity

with God. This is its entire prayer.

…With such a disposition you

can easily accept honors and ease.

Should hardships and disgrace arrive,

you will bear them also, and be

oddly pleased to bear them.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Meister Eckhart, “The Prayer of a Heart Detached”, and “Unburdened”,  in Love’s Immensity, Mystics on the Endless Life, Scott Cairns, p. 99.