4th Trinity IV 2022, The Veil Will Part

  

Trinity IV

The end of Revelation 22:12-21 

"Keep watch. I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me to give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the goal. 

"Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life, which overcomes death and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside shall remain those bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers, who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify their true being. 

"I, Jesus, sent my angel to report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning." 

And the Spirit and the Bride, the Holy City, say, "Come!" 

And may whoever hears also say, "Come!" And may the thirsty come, and may everyone who wants it get to drink the Water of Life freely, as grace. 

Everyone who hears can find their inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead them to full knowledge through the trials of destiny written in this book. 

And whoever diminishes the words of this prophecy, God will remove from them their share in the Tree of Life that overcomes death and their share in the Holy City written about in this book. 

He who lends these words their power says, "Yes, I am coming quickly!" 

Yes, so be it. Amen. Come, Jesus our Lord. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all!

 4^th Trinity IV

November 20, 2022

Revelation 22:12–21 

There is a great wellspring, a tree-shaped fountain, which exists just behind the veil of the senses. Bright waters gather and rise up powerfully, release in a great showering crown, and fall in sparkling color back to the Source to rise again, ever-changing, ever-renewed. 

Within this shimmering fountain-tree, there appears One who gathers substance and rises in birth, whose arms, outstretched like a cross, shower the blessings of his love’s light, who falls into death and then gathers himself and rises anew, who gathers and ascends again in ever greater cycles, joining heaven and earth. 

He is the pattern for all life. The flowing rise of energy, the sustained spreading release of the crowning, the falling back to the Source; this pattern underlies the flow of our day, the rising and falling of the phases of our lives, the arc of an entire lifetime, and of lives in succession. 

“Fortunate are those who wash their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life that overcomes death.” 

We all wear inner garments of soul, garments woven of habits, thoughts, and feelings. We have stained them by our everyday willingness to ignore the fountain that flows just beyond the veil, by our resistance to parting the veil and stepping into the beyond. 

But through the veil, we hear His voice. He who shines with the brightness of morning encourages us to dip our soul garments into His fountain to overcome our earthbound tendencies. He encourages us to rise with him in enthusiasm, to release His love and light into life, to return with Him to the Source, which is the true spirit of the earth. 

“Keep watch,” He says, “Soon, the veil will part, and I will appear, the fountain overflowing with life. 

To you who have washed your soul garments in the knowledge that the sense world is not all that there is;

to you who have felt My power flowing through the veins of your life;

to you who have worked to rise above the death of your soul;

your reward shall be to join me in the Fountain of Life, to partake of my renewing life at its Source.

 

“…for those who want it may drink of me, the Water of Life, free, as grace.”

 

 https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/blog-posts/

 

1st Trinity II, 2022, Living Tree of a New World

 1^st June Trinity II

John 3:1–17 

John La Farge

There was a man in the circle of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus; he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus in the night and said, "Master, we know that you are a high teacher of humankind, come to us from God, for no one can do such signs of the Spirit as you do unless God himself is working together with them in their deeds." 

Jesus answered and said to him, "The truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever is not born anew from above cannot behold the kingdom of God." 

Nicodemus said to him, "How can someone be born again when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!" 

Jesus answered, "The truth out of the Spirit I say to you: whoever remains as they are and does not come to a new birth out of the formative power of the water and out of the breath of the Spirit [or, …and is not born anew out of the spiritual power of eternal becoming and out of being touched by the might of the Spirit world] cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What is born out of earthly elements is of earthly nature. But what is born out of the breath of the Spirit is itself Spirit. Do not wonder that I said to you that you must be born anew from above. The Spirit wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born anew out of the breath of the Spirit." 

Nicodemus replied and said to him, "How can one attain this?" 

artist unknown

Jesus answered, "You are a teacher of Israel and do not know? Amen, the truth I say to you: we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen in the Spirit, but none of you accepts our testimony. When I speak to you of earthly things, and you do not believe them, how shall you believe when I want to speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ascended to the spiritual world who has not previously descended out of the spiritual world, that is, the Son of Man. 

"Just as Moses once lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who finds his power in their hearts can win a share in the higher life beyond time. God has so loved the world that he has given his only begotten Son. From now on, no one who fills themselves with his power shall perish, for they will share in timeless, higher life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but so that the world be saved [or, healed] through him and not fall prey to ruin."

1^st Trinity II

June 12, 2022

John 3:1–17  

A tree’s green leaves together create a certain structure. In its leaves, the tree shows itself to be characteristically—itself. But if it were to stop at that, its life would end with its death. The tree needs to a form new structure—the blossom, and out of that fruit and seeds—these ensure the continuity of its life. 

British Library Catalogue of Manuscripts 

In today’s Gospel, Nicodemus is richly leaved, well-formed growth. But he has come as far as he can. He is drawn toward the light of the Sun-God on earth. And the light tells him that he must be born again from above. His attraction to the Sun must so work in him that something new forms in him, a new structure. His soul and heart must form a blossom, a blossom that opens to the light of the sun, that opens to the working of the breath of the spirit wind, so that seeds of his own higher life can form.

And Nicodemus does so in a remarkable way. For he becomes one who supports the Sun of Christ as it sinks toward its setting. Nicodemus defends Christ during his trial, (John 7:50) and when the Light of the World dies, he helps provide a princely burial (John 19:39). Thereby Christ’s body is protected in such a way that the sunrise of a new life body for all of humanity can be formed.  

This is the way that the life of the world is healed, is preserved, is saved. Each individual human soul, first perhaps in curiosity, then in deep striving, seeks out the Son of God. Each person forms within themselves a new structure, a blossom of the soul. The spirit breathes the seeds of the new in us. This how we ensure life’s continuity, not only for ourselves, but for the life of all the world. For we human beings are truly the blossoms in the creation, the greening, and growth of the living tree of the new world.

 

4th Trinity 2020, Water of Life

 November Trinity

The end of Revelation 22:12-21 

"Keep watch. I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me to give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the goal.

 "Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life, which overcomes death and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside shall remain those bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers, who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify their true being. 

"I, Jesus, sent my angel to report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning." 

And the Spirit and the Bride, the Holy City, say, "Come!" 

And may whoever hears also say, "Come!" And may the thirsty come, and may everyone who wants it get to drink the Water of Life freely, as grace. 

Everyone who hears can find their inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead them to full knowledge through the trials of destiny written in this book. 

And whoever diminishes the words of this prophecy, God will remove from them their share in the Tree of Life that overcomes death and their share in the Holy City written about in this book. 

He who lends these words their power says, "Yes, I am coming quickly!" 

Yes, so be it. Amen. Come, Jesus our Lord. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all!

4th Trinity

November 21, 2021

Revelation 22:12-21 

There is a great wellspring, a tree-shaped fountain that exists just behind the veil of the senses. Bright waters gather and rise powerfully, release in a great showering crown, and fall in sparkling color back to the Source, to rise again, ever-changing, ever renewed. 

artist unknown

Within this shimmering fountain-tree, there appears One who gathers substance and rises in birth, whose arms, outstretched like a cross, shower the blessings of His love's light, who falls into death and then gathers himself and rises anew. He gathers and ascends again in ever greater cycles, joining heaven and earth. 

He is the pattern for all life. The flowing rise of energy, the sustained spreading release of the crowning, the falling back to the Source; this pattern underlies the flow of our day, the rising and falling of the phases of our lives, the arc of an entire lifetime, and of lives in succession. 

He says, "Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life which overcomes death." 

We all wear inner garments of soul, garments woven of habits, thoughts, feelings. We have stained them in our everyday lives. 

Roland Tiller

But beyond the veil of the senses, we hear the voice. He who shines with the brightness of morning encourages us to dip our soul garments into His fountain so that we can overcome our earthbound tendencies. He encourages us to rise with Him in enthusiasm, to release His love and light into life, to return with Him, who is the Source, the true spirit of the earth. 

"Keep watch," He says. "I AM coming soon. You (He says) who have washed your soul garments in the knowledge that the sense-world is not all that there is;

You who have felt My power flowing through the veins of your life;

You who have worked to rise above the death of your soul, your reward shall be to join me in the Fountain of Life, to partake of my renewing life at its Source, for everyone who wants it may drink of Me, the Water of Life, freely, as grace."

www.thechristiancommunity.org 

 

Holy Nights 2019, Tree of Life

Holy Nights

1 John 1: 1-10

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have beheld, and touched with our hands: the Word of God which bears all Life within itself -  the very Life revealed itself, and we have seen it and so bear witness to it and proclaim it to you as the life which is through all cycles of time. It was with the Father; now it has revealed itself to us. We have seen it and heard it, and we proclaim to you so that you also can live in spiritual community with us; that is, our community with the Father and with Jesus Christ his Son.

           

These things we are writing so that your joy may be full.

And this is the message we have received from Him and proclaim to you: that God is Light, and there is not any kind of darkness in Him.

If we say that we have community with Him and yet conduct our lives in the darkness, what we say is a lie and what we do is without reality.

Only when our life is fully permeated by light, as He Himself is in the light, are we truly united in community, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us of all sin.

If we say that we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we are conscious of our sinfulness and confess to it, then He proves faithful and just; he takes the sin from us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have never fallen into sin, we make Him a liar, and the divine Word which goes forth from him is not in us.

Holy Nights

December 29, 2019

1 John 1: 1-10

Shimmering in eternal realms is the great Tree of Life. In Egyptian myth, this

tree is pictured as the great world tree. Its branches support the star-studded sky, and its roots reach into the divine watery deep. Its trunk forms the axis around which the world revolves. In the myth, the god Osirus was encased in the trunk of this tree; he became the link between the earthly and the heavenly realms.

Christ Jesus carried this further: on the tree of the cross, the tree of death that became a shining tree of life; the divine creator’s arms are outstretched in an embrace of love that includes the whole world.

We are each a living replica of the tree of life. At birth, we are rooted in the divine depths. Our crown is in God’s starry heights. And at the very center of our being is the beauty of our heart, connected with the sun, shining with the creative power that unites all.  Our heart is the axis around which our whole world revolves.

This creative, sun-like center is the radiant beauty of love. It is supported on the one hand by mercy and on the other by justice. For the Christ-Sun on the cross was placed between the two thieves. To the one who was willing to assume responsibility for his own deeds, the Christ-Sun’s beauteous love showed mercy: “Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43 To the one who railed and egotistically cursed God, cutting himself off from divine love, there could remain only the severity of God’s justice.

A merciful and just love—this is the love that God enacted on the field of history. This is the love that He has implanted in each human heart, from there to be radiated forth as the life-giving Sun of Divine-Human love. So, in the words of the poet:

Let us be like

…falling stars in the day sky.

Let no one know of our sublime beauty

As we hold hands with God

And burn

Into a sacred existence …

That surpasses

Every description of …love.*

---

*Hafiz, “The Day Sky”, in The Subject Tonight Is Love, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 24.

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6th February Trinity 2019, Become His Likeness

February Trinity 

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Tissot

 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Tissot

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me as your Lord. “

Tissot

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

6th Feb Trinity

March 10, 2019

Matthew 4: 1-11

  

A tree lives and develops in three zones. It is rooted in the earth where it is nourished by the soil. It weaves and works in air and light; it blossoms and fruits in the warmth of the sun.

In overcoming the three temptations, Christ, the divine human being, clears the three basic areas in which our living souls develop. He reminds us to root ourselves, nourished ‘in the creative power that comes from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4 That is, we are to recognize that we are not fed and sustained by the material nature of bread, but rather by the living power of the universe that God places in the grain.

Tree of Life

While rooted in God’s creative power, we are to weave in the light and air of the divine world and its lawful order, within the divine ‘ordering of space and course of time’. To make one’s ego supreme, to impose one’s own wishes and desires on the world, to test the divine order, is to be like leaves trying to fly—such leaves, separated from the tree, are in fact already dead.

And we are to blossom in the warmth of divine love, not in the heat of overbearing pride. For it is the wise guidance of God that brings us to our full glory and fruitfulness, not our own seeming mastery over the world.

Rooting our souls in God, working and weaving in His light, blossoming in His warmth, we will gradually develop into what God intends us to be—fully and divinely human. Overcoming the basic standard temptations, the temptations of materialism and egotistical pride, our true humanity will blossom.

We were created in God’s image. Through Christ’s strength of overcoming, we will weave and work His purpose, in His daylight. Through Christ, we will blossom into God’s purpose and promise for us: that we become His likeness.

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3rd St. Johnstide 2018, Invisible Gold

Ghirlandaio

St. Johnstide
Luke 3: 7-18

John said to the crowds coming outto be baptized by him, “You are sons of the serpent yet! Who led you to believe that you can avoid the decline of the old ways of the soul? Produce true fruits in keeping with a change of heart and mind. And do not begin excusing yourselves by saying, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that God can raise up sons for Abraham out of these stones. The ax is already poised at the root of the trees, so every tree that does not produce good fruit is felled and thrown into the fire.”

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” Do not collect any more than you are authorized to do,” he told them.
         
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Do not intimidate and do not accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ, the Messiah.

John answered them all, “I wash you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will wash you with the breath of the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, while he burns up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
 
And with many and various exhortations John preached the good news to the people.

Buddha, Jan de Kok

3rd St. Johnstide
July 8, 2018
Luke 3: 7-18

Sometimes the sweetest fruit comes from an old tree; but usually, it is a tree that has been long cared for with thoughtful pruning and generous stimulus to growth.

One of humanity’s old ‘cultural trees’ is Buddha’s eightfold path. This path is a call to be mindful of how a one thinks and acts. Buddha encourages us to make rightful decisions based on appropriate strivings and to accurately recollect and contemplate our past thoughts and actions.

The eightfold path is echoed in today’s reading. John the Baptist’s suggestions for preparing our hearts and minds for an encounter with Christ is especially relevant for today: Share; don’t hoard. Don’t take advantage. Don’t intimidate. In other words, curb your selfishness. Be generous. Be content.

These

Tree of Life, Tiffany

heart generosities and soul prunings produce “good fruits in keeping with a change of heart and mind”. It doesn’t matter how young or how old the soul. Nor do one’s genetics, social standing or cultural heritage matter either. We all can practice cultivating our own hearts and minds. For every tree that does not produce good fruit is of no real use to the world. No matter how insignificant our outer lives may otherwise seem, our hearts and minds can become like the tree described by Denise Levertov:
 
    …this tree, behold,
    glows from within;
    haloed in visible
    invisible gold.*

---

*Denise Levertov, “Last Night's Dream”

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4th Easter 2017, Bear Fruit

4^th Easter

John 15: 1 – 27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me and I in you.

Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.

These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.

No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.

You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.

If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.

Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.

If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning.

4^th Easter

May 7, 2017

John 15: 1 – 27

Once a mighty tree grew in the realm of the heavens. Its life was the life of the universe. Its roots were in the sun. Its branches were in the cosmos. Its fruits were the planets and the stars.

One of its planets, the earth, began to sicken and grow dark. And so the mighty tree concentrated its life into a single Sun-Seed, which dropped onto the earth. The seed died, was buried in the earth. There it germinated, grew toward the heavens, scattering seeds of its own into the heart of each human being on the planet.

The hope of the Sun-Tree is that humans will tend and grow their own heart's Sun-Seed. The hope is that they will eventually become Sun-Trees themselves, living together with the life of the whole universe, branching into the cosmos. Like the original Sun-Seed, they will ever and again die into the earth and grow into the cosmos. Through their love for all other humans, they will help planet earth become an Earth-Sun, radiating life and love back into the universe. As Rilke said,

Not to falter! Not to be found wanting!

Thus must it be, when willingly you strive

throughout a long and uncomplaining life,

committed to one goal: to give yourself!

And silently to grow and to bear fruit.*

  

* Rainer Maria Rilke, "The Apple Orchard," in (Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, trans. by Albert Ernest Flemming)

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