4th Michaelmas 2017, Faithful and True

2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas Sunday
Revelation 19, 11-16

And I saw the heavens opening up. And behold, a white horse! And the rider who sat upon it is called faithful and true, who judges justly and battles for justice. His eyes are like flames of fire, and his head wears many crowns, inscribed with a name which no one knows but he himself. The cloak that covers him has been dipped in blood, and he is known by the name “Word of God”.
And the warriors of the sky ride behind him upon white steeds, clad in clean, white linen. And he has a sharp-edged sword coming out of his mouth with which to subdue the nations, and he will shepherd them with a staff of iron. He treads on the winepress holding the wine of the wrath of the will of God, the ruler of all.

And written on his cloak and on his thigh is the name: King of all kings, Lord of all lords.

4^th Michaelmas Sunday

October 22, 2017
Rev. 19:11-16

Some plants bloom, set seed and die in one year. For a plant to exist for more than one year, to exist perennially, say a rosebush, a part of it must become wooden. It is the hardness, the thorny wood, that allows the plant to continue to live year after year.

There is a hard edge to today’s gospel reading. It speaks of sharp swords, iron staffs, winepresses. As paradoxical as it may seem, their very hardness is what makes our continued lives possible.

The sharp sword is the discerning word of truth from the mouth of God. We may prefer the soft greenness of our wishes and hopes, of our desires and illusions. But there is no progress, no growth or evolution of our being without the sharpness of truth.

The rod of iron is the starry iron in our own blood. It makes it possible for us to be upright, to rise above the forces which would chain us in slavery to the earth. Our uprightness, a gift from the stars, allows us to continue to grow toward the Sun-God.

The winepress is another instrument of discernment. It is the divine instrument that discerns how much of our blood’s uprightness has been dedicated to God’s will for our development, and how much of our blood’s self-will needs to be discarded as unfit.

A rose blossom is not possible without the support of the thorny wood. Without a hard-edged capacity for truth, without uprightness and discernment in our growth toward God’s will, the continuance and blossoming of our deepest and truest being is not possible. For true life is not about comfort. It is about overcoming—overcoming illusion and self-deception, overcoming being chained to the earthly, overcoming our little ego’s self-satisfaction. The deep life, the truly continuing life, is aligned with truth, with uprightness, with developing the wine of a true love for others.

When we have been cleansed, or have cleansed ourselves, of deception and illusion, we become trustworthy. We finally arrive at the place of our deepest and inmost soul, the place where Christ, the King of kings, he who is faithful and true, lives in us.

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