Pentecost
John 14:23-31
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. Tina Chwala
"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.
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. Ain Vares
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