10th August Trinity 2018, Awaken in Christ's Body

10^th Trinity August, September

Luke 7, 11-17

And it came to pass that on the

next day Jesus went into a city called Nain,

Nicusor Dumitru

and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. And as he drew near to the gate of the city, they became aware that a dead man was being carried out—the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd of people from the city accompanied her.

And seeing her the Lord felt her suffering, and said to her, “Weep no more.”

And approaching, he touched the coffin, and pallbearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

The dead man sat up, and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Astonishment and awe seized all who were standing there, and they began to praise God and to glorify what was here revealed, saying,

“A prophet powerful in spirit has been raised among us, and God has come down to us, his people.”

Word about him spread out into all of Judea and all of the neighboring regions.

10^th August Trinity

September 23, 2018

Luke 7: 11-17

Watching as a high diver plunges into the depths, he seems to disappear for a time before he re-surfaces. This is the time of the year when we are being encouraged to plunge into our own depths. And in the deepest and darkest part of our being there lies the fear of dying.

Part of this fear comes from the body’s need to protect its existence. But the other part comes from the soul’s fear of transformation, and little ego’s fear of extinction. This is because in our time, the little ego is so intensely interwoven with our bodily existence.

In today’s reading, a mother mourns because her son, a young man, has died. His path has taken him to where we all must go—into our deepest fear. And there he meets Christ, who calls him awake and bids him rise, to take up his bodily existence yet again.

Thus Christ establishes a new eternal archetype: one’s Self rises and lives through its relationship to the greater Self, Christ's I AM. Christ calls us awake and bids us rise, both now, and after we die. In the words of a mystic:

We awaken in Christ's body

as Christ awakens our bodies….

For if we genuinely love Him,

we wake up inside Christ's body

Danny Hahlbohm

where all our body, …

is realized in joy as Him,

and He makes us, utterly, real,

and everything … is in Him transformed

and recognized as whole, as lovely,

and radiant in His light

he awakens as the Beloved

in every last part of our body.[1]

Visit our new website!

---

[1] Symeon the New Theologian (949 - 1032), “We awaken in Christ's Body”, translated by Stephen Mitchell.

2nd Easter 2018, Joy Inside

Tissot

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

Tissot

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 Easter
April 8, 2018
John 20: 19-29
 
Movies nowadays are capable of creating amazing visuals. Characters in 3D can seem to hover in the space before us. They can become transparent and finally disappear, while their voice still continues to speak.
 
On Easter evening, Christ Jesus appears in the room though the doors are locked. He must have looked somewhat different, for it takes a moment for his friends to recognize him. His wounds are the keys that open their hearts. And his breath. He breathes peace into them. And He also breathes His power and strength into them, and into us—the strength to gradually work ourselves free from the burden of our destinies; the strength at the same time to carry the necessary consequences of our deeds.
 
Thomas was not present when Christ appeared, and so he questions the reality

Giambattista_Cima_da_Conegliano

of what his friends had experienced. Thomas is a figure for our time. For we are all struggling to recognize the reality behind the appearances. Pilate’s question to Jesus—what is truth?—is answered through Thomas. For Thomas learns that truth has many layers, of which the material is only one. Thomas must learn to trust in the non-material physical evidence. He trusts in what he can see, but also in what he can perceive as body warmth through his sense of touch, and through his recognition, his intuition, that the One who appears before him really is who He seems to be.
 
For at that moment, Christ inhabits a non-material body. It looks like a human body, yet I imagine it is transparent, and yet still visible, still bearing the marks of His suffering, still touchable, still real. As real as warmth, as real was His death, as real as is His Love. And through trust, Thomas awakens within himself the reality of Christ.
 
As a poetic theologian says:
 
… let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body
 
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,
….
he awakens as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.*

---

*  “We Awaken in Christ's Body” by Symeon the New Theologian (949 – 1032 AD) English version by Stephen Mitchell.

10th September Trinity 2012, Diving the Depths

10^th Trinity August September

Luke 7, 11-17

And it came to pass that on the next day Jesus went into a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. And as he drew near to the gate of the city, they became aware that a dead man was being carried out—the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd of people from the city accompanied her.

And seeing her the Lord felt her suffering, and said to her, “Weep no more.”

And approaching, he touched the coffin, and pallbearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

The dead man sat up, and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Astonishment and awe seized all who were standing there, and they began to praise God and to glorify what was here revealed, saying,

“A prophet powerful in spirit has been raised among us, and God has come down to us, his people.”

Word about him spread out into all of Judea and all of the neighboring regions.

10^th August Trinity

September 23, 2012

Luke 7: 11-17

Watching as a high diver plunges into the depths, he seems to disappear for a time before he re-surfaces. This is the time of the year when we are being encouraged to plunge into our own depths. And in the deepest and darkest part of our being there lies the fear of dying.

Part of this fear comes from the body’s need to protect its existence. But the other part comes from the soul’s fear of transformation, and the little ego’s fear of extinction. This is because in our time, the little ego is so intensely interwoven with our bodily existence.

In today’s reading, a mother mourns because her son, a young man, has died. His path has taken him to where we all must go—into our deepest fear. And there he meets Christ, who calls him awake and bids him rise, to take up his bodily existence yet again.

Thus Christ establishes a new eternal archetype: one’s self rises and lives through its relationship to the greater Self, the I AM. Christ calls us awake and bids us rise, both now, and after we die. In the words of a mystic:

We awaken in Christ's body

as Christ awakens our bodies….

For if we genuinely love Him,

we wake up inside Christ's body

where all our body, …

is realized in joy as Him,

and He makes us, utterly, real,

and everything … is in Him transformed

and recognized as whole, as lovely,

and radiant in His light

he awakens as the Beloved

in every last part of our body.[1]

---

[1] Symeon the New Theologian (949 - 1032), “We awaken in Christ's Body”, translated by Stephen Mitchell.

  

2nd Easter 2012, Utterly Real

2^nd Easter

Unknown

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.”

He Qi

2^nd Easter

April 15, 2012

John 20: 19-29

Movies nowadays are capable of creating amazing visuals. Characters in 3D can seem to hover in the space before us. They can become transparent and finally disappear, while their voice still continues to speak.

On Easter evening, Christ Jesus appears in the room though the doors are locked. He must have looked somewhat different, for it takes a moment for his friends to recognize him. His wounds are the keys that open their hearts. And his breath. He breathes peace into them. And He also breathes His power and strength into them, and to us—the strength to gradually work ourselves free from the burden of our destinies; the strength at the same time to carry the necessary consequences of our deeds.

Thomas was not present when Christ appeared, and so he questions the reality of what his friends had experienced. Thomas is a figure for our time. For we are all struggling to recognize the reality behind the appearances. Pilate’s question to Jesus—what is truth?—is answered through Thomas. For Thomas learns that truth has many layers, of which the material is only one. Thomas must learn to trust in the non-material physical evidence. He trusts in what he can see, but also in what he can perceive as body warmth through his sense of touch, and through his recognition, his intuition, that the One who appears before him really is who He seems to be.

For at that moment, Christ inhabits a non-material body. It looks like a human body, yet I imagine it is transparent, and yet still visible, still bearing the marks of His suffering, still touchable, still real. As real as warmth, as real was His death, as real as is His Love. And through trust, Thomas awakens within himself the reality of Christ.

Friedrich Overbeck

www.thechristiancommunity.org

As a poetic theologian says:

… let yourself receive the one

who is opening to you so deeply.

For if we genuinely love Him,

we wake up inside Christ's body

where all our body, all over,

every most hidden part of it,

is realized in joy as Him,

and He makes us, utterly, real,

….

he awakens as the Beloved

in every last part of our body[1].

---

[1] “We Awaken in Christ's Body” by Symeon the New Theologian (949 – 1032 AD) English version by Stephen Mitchell.