4th August Trinity 2016, Kingdom of Angels (Redux)

4th Trinity August

Luke 9: 1-17

He called the twelve together and gave to them potent authority and formative power, so that they could work against all demonic mischief, and heal all sickness.  And he sent them out to heal and to proclaim the Kingdom of God, appearing now on earth, the kingdom of human beings filled with God’s spirit.

And he said to them, “Take nothing with you on the way: no staff for support, no bag for collecting, neither bread nor money, no change of clothes. If you enter a house, remain there until you go further. And where they do not accept you, leave their city and shake the dust from your feet as a sign that they have refused community with you.”

They left and walked through the villages of the country, announcing the joyful message of the new working of the kingdom of the angels and healing everywhere.

Meanwhile Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was happening and he was very perplexed, for some said, “John is risen from the dead,” and others said that Elijah had appeared, and yet others, “One of the Prophets of old has risen again.” And Herod said, “John I have had beheaded; who now is this, about whom I hear all these things?” And he wished to see him himself.

Kenneth Dowdy

And the apostles returned and reported to Jesus everything that they had accomplished. So he gathered them to himself and retreated with them to a city called Bethsaida for special instruction. But the people became aware of it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God of the future, of the human kingdom on earth filled with the divine spirit, and he healed all who had need of it.

But the day began to decline. The twelve came up to him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can reach the villages and farms in the vicinity and find food and lodging, for here we are in a deserted place.” He, however, said to them, “From now on it falls to you; you give them to eat.”

They answered, “We have nothing but five loaves and two fish. Or shall we go and buy food for all of them?“ There were about five thousand people.

Then he said to the disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of fifty”. And they did so, and all reclined.

Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising his soul to the spirit, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. And they ate, and all were satisfied. And they took up the pieces that remained: twelve baskets full. 

4th Trinity August

August 14, 2016

Luke 9: 1-17

We are approaching the middle of a ten-week path toward Michaelmas. This fourth reading in the series is itself a kind of path.

First Christ gives his disciples the power to heal and to announce a new kingdom from the angels. This new kingdom is arising in human hearts. And then he tells them to shed what is unnecessary, to separate themselves from certain external supports – no bag, no bread, no money. They go out, and when they return, they report back to him joyfully. And at the end of the day, He feeds them all from the spiritual nourishment of the stars.

We can see this as a pattern for our days. We can begin the day by receiving a measure

M. Woloschina

of inner strength and the power of love from Christ. We can remind ourselves not to become too dependent upon outer supports. We can demonstrate the new kingdom in human hearts by the quality of our interactions with others. And at the end of the day we can report back to Him, and in sleep receive our nourishment from the cosmos of the stars.

Doing this day by day builds something. With Christ’s help, we are creating the kingdom of the heavens within. And working actively, day by day, from within, we are also helping create a new kingdom of the angels on earth. 

3rd August Trinity 2016, All Shall Be Well (Redux)

3^rd August Trinity

Rembrandt, Wiki Commons

August 7, 2016

Luke 15:11-32

And he said further: “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Give me the share of the estate which falls to me.’  And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a far country and squandered his estate in the enjoyment of loose living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine came over the land, and he began to be in need. So he went and attached himself to a citizen of the country who sent him out into his fields and let him herd swine. And he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything.

Then he came to himself, and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here of hunger. I will rise up and go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’

So he rose up and traveled along the road to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt his misery, ran toward him, embraced him and kissed him. And yet the son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’

But the father called his servant to him. ‘Quickly! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and slaughter the fattened calf. Then we shall eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is risen to life. He was lost and is found again.’ And they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile the older son was in the field. When he returned home and came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. He gave him the news: ‘Your brother has come home again. So in joy your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back again safe and sound.’

The son grew dark with anger and didn’t want to go in. But his father came out and pleaded with him. He however reproached his father saying, ‘Look! For so many years I have been with you and have never neglected one of your commands. But you never gave me so much as a goat that I might be merry with my friends. And now comes this son of yours who has eaten up your wealth in scandal, and you offer him the fattened calf.’

The father however said to him ‘Child, you are always with me and all that I have belongs to you too. But now we should be glad and rejoice, for this your brother was dead and lives; he was lost and has been found again.’

Lacquered Box Depiction of Story of Prodigal Son

3^rd August Trinity

August 7, 2016

Luke 15:11-32

We are complex beings. Our souls are populated by many different aspects of our personality. One way to read today’s beautiful parable is to regard each character in the story as one aspect of a single human being.

We all have an inner, fun-loving son who is eager for what the world has to offer. In pursuing the

Turning Point, Frostad

world one-sidedly, he finds himself cut off from the Source, alone and starving.

We all have a loving Father within, who encourages our explorations and welcomes our return with compassion and joy. And we all have a law-abiding, jealous brother, who is keeping accounts, prone to anger. He feels himself short-changed but is missing the point.

This triad, Father, son and brother, is an image of the human will. We see the Father’s good will, the brother’s ill will, the son’s self-will.

And the most important moment in the story comes when the lost son ‘comes to himself’. In that moment, he recognizes that what keeps us alive is not merely food, but relationship. In coming to himself, he has found his own singularity, and at the same time he recognizes that he needs to re-establish a healthy relationship with his origins in the Source. In coming to himself, he comes to direct his own will.

Return of the Prodigal Son, Charlie MacKesey

Life brings us moments of coming to ourselves. Often it is illness or tragedy that brings us this opportunity. But we can also deliberately create moments of silent listening for our own, true voice, the voice that urges us to return to the Source. In such moments we receive the Father’s kiss. We receive the mantle of peace, the ring of unity, sandals of free power. We partake in the celebratory feast which keeps us truly alive. T. S. Eliot said,

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, remembered gate

…

A condition of complete simplicity

(Costing not less than everything)

And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well…*

*T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd August Trinity, Plumb the Depths

Kenneth Dowdy

2nd August Trinity

Matthew 7, 1-29

 “Do not judge your fellow man, so that your judgment will not someday be visited upon yourself. For with the judgment that you pronounce you also speak your own judgment, and the measure by which you measure will be the measuring rod for your own self. Why do you look to the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not become aware of the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother: “Wait, I will pull the splinter out of your eye” - but mark it well, there is a log in your own eye. You hypocrite, first remove the log from your own eye, and then you may be able to see how to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor throw pearls to the swine, for these will tread them underfoot, and then turn upon you and tear you also to pieces.

Ask from the heart and it will be given to your heart; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you; for he who asks in uprightness will receive; he who earnestly seeks will find; he who knocks, to him will be opened. Or are there among you those who when his son asks for bread would give him a stone; or when he asks for a fish would offer him a snake? If then you who in spite of wickedness know how to give good things to your children, how much more goodness will your Father in the heavens give to those who earnestly ask him for it.

All that you want that men should do for you, do first for them. This is the true content of the Law and the Prophets.

Walk through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the path is easy which leads to ruin [the abyss] and many are they who walk it. But narrow is the gate and difficult the path that leads to Life, and it is only the individual who finds it. 

2nd August Trinity

July 30, 2017

Matthew 7, 1-29

Our eyes were shaped and formed by the light, in order to see what the light reveals. Our souls have eyes, formed and shaped by our inner experiences and by the soul's attitudes. A critical attitude sees what is lacking, in oneself and in others. Harsh criticism perceives and measures how far we fall short. It is cutting. We need to keep quiet.

Our souls can also be filled with what is holy. In our enthusiasm, we can spill this holy substance in front of cynics, squander holy substance on those who have no capacity to receive it. We need to keep quiet.

Instead of criticizing or gushing, we can quietly center ourselves. We can plumb the depths of our own hearts. With compassion and without harshness, we can honestly recognize our lacks and faults. With an upright heart, we can ask the spiritual world for the strength of soul and nourishment of spirit to become the kind of soul that can help both ourselves and others. Through the Father, we can become conscious of our humanity; through Christ, we can experience the evolution of our humanity; through our human capacities, we can receive and grasp God's Spirit of Love and Light. 

1st August Trinity 2017, Christ-Folk

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1st August Trinity

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there, he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say, Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels."

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

Edwin Austin Abbey 

1st August Trinity

July 23, 2017

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

There are times in life when we receive a momentous revelation. It can be bad news or good, but in that moment, the orientation of our life is forever changed.

Jesus asks the disciples, 'Who do you say that I am?' Peter receives a momentous revelation. In a flash, he recognizes that in Jesus there dwells the Christ, the Anointed and longed-for Messiah. In Matthew's Gospel he answers, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!' And with this revelation. the orientation of his life, and of the life of all of humanity, is forever changed.

Rosenkrantz

For humanity, with this revelation, a new foundation for a new kind of temple community begins to be built. The old temple was built on the awareness of the distance between the chosen people and other people. It was built on an awareness of the distance between a fallen humanity and the divine. Offerings were made to bridge the ever-increasing gap, in the hope that God would send a remedy.

The new community is founded on an inner, individual awareness that Christ Jesus is the Son of the Living God. He is the one who gives life and healing to human souls ill with the burden of their karma. This awareness is the foundation of the new community, the Christ-Folk. It recognizes that all must indeed make compensation for their sins. But the Christ community is built on generosity of spirit and on love; and it also recognizes that we can help each other deal with what we each have brought on ourselves. The community can take on the burden of another's karma. For it has received the revelation of the power and magnificence of the conscious spirit of love. 

4th St. Johnstide 2017, Call of Freedom

St. Johnstide

John in Prison, Rembrandt

Matthew 11: 2-15

When John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are awakened, and those who have become poor receive the message of

Dore

salvation. Blessed are those who are not offended by my Being.”

When they had gone, Jesus began to speak about John. “Why did you go out into the desert? Did you want to see a reed swaying in the wind? Or was it something else you wanted to see? Did you want to see a man in splendid garments? Those in splendid garments are in the palaces of kings. Did you go to see a man who is initiated into the mysteries of the spirit, a prophet? Yes, I say to you—he is more than a prophet. He it is of whom it is written:

           

            Behold it well: I will send my angel before your face;

            He shall prepare the way of your working in human hearts

            So that your being may be revealed.

The truth I say to you: among all who are born of women, not one has risen up who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist, and even more now, the kingdom of heaven will arise within human beings through the power of the will; those who exert themselves can freely grasp it. The deeds of the prophets and the content of the Law are words of the spirit that were valid [worked into the future] until the time of John. And if you want to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

4^th St. Johnstide

July 16, 2017

Matthew 11: 2-15

There are at least two ways to land in prison; one way is to transgress the law, the social order. The other is to be captured by evil. Humankind has become imprisoned for both reasons. We have transgressed, and we have been captured by the forces of hindrance. 

Christ sent his angel, Elijah-John, to awaken us in our captivity. Through him, we become aware of our guilt, but also of our captive state. And He announces the arrival of our Liberator, the one who will spring the trap, free us, and help us cleanse our clogging guilt.

The angel John was himself imprisoned, both by evil forces and by humanity's collective guilt. In his captivity, others were the ones to bear witness for him, to bear witness to that which he could no longer experience directly. They witnessed that the Liberator gives the insight of vision. He gives inspiration and movement to human souls. He brings cleansing and blessing. And He brings the glad tidings of a new state of freedom for humankind. And so, may we hear Christ's wish for us in the words of the poet:

As a bird soars high

In the free holding of the wind,

Clear of the certainty of ground,

Opening the imagination of wings

Into the grace of emptiness

To fulfill new voyagings,

May your life awaken

To the call of its freedom.*

John O'Donohue, "For Freedom", in To Bless the Space Between Us.

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3rd St. Johnstide 2017, Loving Embrace

St. Johnstide

John 3: 22-36

John in Prison

After this, Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.

Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness – here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who descends from above, out of the spiritual world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth, whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.

He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his testimony.

But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to this: that God is true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love, and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

3^rd St. Johnstide

July 9, 2017

John 3: 22-36

The plant grounds its roots in the earth; it rises and spreads its leaves into the air. And then it holds up the chalice of its blossom to the sun. It sends its fragrance and pollen heavenward, where they will be enriched (and inseminated) by the sun's life-giving rays. Into its chalice-blossom the plant receives new life, which will form in its seeds.

Without the sun, none of this would happen. The plant and its processes have their reality. But the underlying, pre-existing reality rests in the sun.

But the most real reality, the real antecedent truth behind the existence of everything, even of the sun, is God. God is the highest, the truest, the most real of all levels of reality. Far in the future, nature and all its forms will have disappeared. But God will still be, holding all in His loving embrace.

He gave us, gives us His Son, whose presence abides with us, in us, on earth. With His Son, God has given us the power to awaken His own creative potential, His divinity, within us.

As we raise the chalice of our heart, as we send the fragrance of our self-offering toward the Christ-Sun, He, humanity's bridegroom, in turn sends His life-giving grace to fill our hearts, to make fertile the seeds of divinity within us. He sends into us the highest reality of God, as seed of a new life.

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2nd St. Johnstide 2017, Heal the World

Ghirlandaio

St. Johnstide

Luke 3: 7-18

John said to the crowds coming out to 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.

2^nd St. Johnstide

feldspar

July 2, 2017

Luke 3: 7-18

Although there is a constant invisible core, living things change. They continually change and evolve their outer form. Only stones remain inert.

John the Baptist encourages us to change, that is, to remain alive. He wants our hearts not to be backward looking, stuck in the past. Otherwise, our hearts turn to stone. Rather, we are to be open to renewal and change. When asked, he encourages us to find new ways to help others, to take no more than our fair share. We are to avoid suppressing others or lying. We are to be content, reconciled with our karma and our place in life.

These practices purify the soul of its egocentricity. They prepare the soul for its great moment, for its Baptism in fire. This fire is fanned with the healing breath of the Holy Spirit of love. This breath of the Spirit is the love that enables us to change and evolve. This is the love that will ultimately heal the world. 

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