1st November Trinity 2019, Door of Being

November Trinity

Revelation 1, 1-20

This is the unveiling of the being of Jesus Christ, which proceeds out of the divine world for those who would serve him. To them shall be revealed what must of necessity happen in the future and which powerfully presses into world events. God formed this revelation in imagery and sent it through his angel to his servant John. And so John speaks as a witness to everything he saw, that is, to the Divine Word, and to the life of Jesus Christ, which serves as a testimony. Blessed is he who knows how to read the prophetic words, and blessed are those who know how to hear them, and all who take what is written in this book into their souls; for time presses.

John, to the seven congregations in Asia:

Grunewald

Grace and peace to you

From Him who is, and who was, and who is coming

And from the seven creating spirits before his throne

And from Jesus Christ.

By his witnessing, he is the archetype of trust.

He is the firstborn from the realm of death,

He is the leading spirit of the Kings on earth.

He has turned to us in love, and by the power of his blood

He has released us from the spell of sin which lay upon us.

He has established us as true kings and made us into priests

before the divine Ground of the World, his Father.

To him belongs all light of the spirit and all power of soul from eon to eon. Amen.

See: he comes in the realm of the clouds.

All eyes shall see him, also the eyes of those who pierced him. And men down the ages will lament about him. Yes. Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega,

Thus speaks the Lord our God

who is, and who was, and who is coming

the divine ruler of the world.

I, John, your brother and your companion in all trials and also in the inner kingdom and in the power of endurance which we possess through our oneness with Jesus: I was on the island of Patmos. There it was granted to me to receive a share of the divine Word and to bear witness to the sufferings of Jesus.

On the Lord’s Day, I was lifted up to the world of spirit and I heard behind me a mighty voice like the sound of a trumpet. It said: write what you see in a book and send it to the seven congregations: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

And I turned to see him whose voice was speaking to me. And as I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, a figure like that of the Son of Man:

clothed with a long billowing garment,

encircled round his breast with a golden band;

         his head and his hair shining white like snow-white wool,

his eyes like a flame of fire,

his feet like burnished bronze glowing in a furnace,

his voice like the rushing of many streams of water.

In his hand he held seven stars;

from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword

and his face shone, as the sun shines in its full radiance.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet and was as if dead. But he laid his right hand upon me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am living and I bear the life of the world through all eons. Mine is the key to the realm of death and of the shades. Write down what you see: what is now, and what is to come.

The secret of the seven stars, which you see in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the picture in the spirit for the angels of the seven congregations, and the seven lampstands are the seven congregations themselves.”

First November Trinity

October 27, 2019

Revelation 1: 1-20

During this dying time of year, we are immersed in the ebbing of natural life. Meanwhile, in the other hemisphere, spring is growing. An image for this is the old-fashioned sand clock or hourglass. The more time passes, the less sand there is in the upper chamber. In focusing on how little is left, however, we may fail to realize that the clock will soon be inverted. What poured down below will be turned over and become the content of what is above.

Last week we saw the image of Christ in the warrior garb of Michael. His truth, His justice, His loyalty to humankind’s development was demonstrated in His strength in the battle for human evolution.

Once the battle has been fought, the chains fettering humans to the earthly are severed. The clock can be inverted. And we see a mighty image of grace and peace. We see Christ shining in the light of lamps, of stars, of sun, in a fullness of radiant love. The One who sacrificed Himself, who died in battle, is birthed out of death. He is now master, not only of the heavens but also of the underworld. He holds the key to the realm of the dead. He is the hourglass itself.

 

He stands now among the seven lamps that the communities light with their prayers. Those who have died join in the praying. And in His hand, he holds the starry angels who guide those communities into the future. For there is always a future. It is the future that we are creating. And Christ stands at the doorway, is the doorway to that future. And so in the words of the poet, we ask:

door of being, dawn and wake me,
allow me to see the face of this day,
allow me to see the face of this night,
… take me to the other side of this night,
where I am you, we are us,
the kingdom where pronouns are intertwined,

…door of being, dawn and wake me,…*

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*Octavio Paz, in Sunstone/Piedra de Sol, translated by Eliot Winberger

4th Michaelmas 2019, Battle for Truth

4^th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19, 11-16 (adapted from Madsen)

Queen Mary Apocalypse

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

October 20, 2019

Revelation 19: 11- 16

In our unsettling times, it can be hard to hear the message in today’s reading. Its tone seems strong, harsh even. But a closer reading can reveal a pattern of truth.

Schongauer

This tone is a kind of mask. It is the face of the archangel Michael that the Christ being wears at the moment, the earnest expression that threatens the adversarial powers who intimidate humankind. The reading reassures us that He, who judges justly and battles for truth is the guiding force in the evolution of our humanity.

He is pictured as wearing a cloak dipped in blood, with an iron shepherd’s staff. This is a picture for the iron in our blood, which keeps us strong, upright and moving decisively forward. This iron is strengthened yearly by our breathing of the meteoric iron in the atmosphere as the earth moves through the late summer meteor showers. With it comes an infusion of heavenly intent.

His two-edged, discerning sword—the creative Word of God—strikes down the nations, perhaps not so much because they need punishing, but because each nation has its season. A nation rises and falls according to what the human evolution toward love needs at any given time.

Mystic Winepress

He treads on the winepress containing the wine of God’s will. This ‘wrath’ of God’s will is transformational, regenerative, perhaps like a furious cleaning that creates order. This will of God separates out impurities, creating a purifying essence, a healing wine.

We are being reminded that it is time for the old and no longer useful in us to be discarded; that we need to join the warriors in white; for we are to press the essence of our lives, our love, into a nourishing drink in support of what the angels are trying to accomplish with us.  

3rd Michaelmas 2019, Sun-Child

3^rd Michaelmas 

Revelation 12: 1-17

Benjamin West

And a momentous image was unveiled in the world of spirit: a woman, clothed with the radiant power of the sun, the moon under her feet, her head adorned with the crown of the twelve stars of heaven. And she is with child and cries out in the labor and pain of giving birth.

And at the same time, a second image was revealed in the heavens: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its head, it has seven crowns and its tail is sweeping a third of all the stars in heaven and dashing them onto the earth. And the dragon is standing before the woman about to give birth so that when she bears the child he can devour it. And she bore a child, a son ”who would shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.” And the woman’s child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place that God keeps ready there, so that they can take care of her for days numbering one thousand two hundred sixty.

And a war flared up in the spirit world. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought in the midst of his own angels, but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Down came the dragon, the giant, the serpent, the evil one called both Satan and the devil, deceiver of all the world. Onto the earth, he came hurtling down, and all his angels with him.

And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying:

Bernard Eyb

Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—

The power to heal the world,

The power to transform all being,

The power to draw everything into godly being.

Arisen is the spirit leadership of his Christ.

Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,

He who accused them night and day before the countenance of God.

They have overcome him through the blood and the sacrificial power of the Lamb

And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.

They did not love their own lives too dearly, nor did they fear death.

Therefore, rejoice you heavens

And all who lodge therein!

But woe to the earth and the sea:

For the Adversary has come down to you,

And he seethes with measureless fury,

For he knows that his time is short.

And when the dragon recognized that he had been cast onto the earth, he began to persecute the woman who had borne the son. Then the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle so that she could fly into the desert to her appointed place, where she is to be nourished for a cycle of time, for cycles of time, and for half a cycle of time, far from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent opened his mouth and spewed out a river of water after the woman so she would be swept off her feet by the river. But then the earth came to the woman’s assistance; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon spewed from his mouth. And the dragon burned with fury against the woman. He stormed away to make war on the rest of the woman’s seed, people who keep to the divine world aims and who are united with the destiny and witnessing of Jesus. As I saw this I was standing on the sandy shore of the sea.

3^rd Michaelmas

October 13, 2019

Revelation 12: 1-17

Rosenkrantz

In grand and mysterious pictures, this reading from the Revelation to John places before our souls a kind of mirror.

In this mirror, we see the woman clothed in the sun, crowned with stars, the moon under her feet. This is a picture of the great heavenly soul of all mankind. In the realm of sleep, from the heavenly realm of night, all of humanity has collectively labored to bring forth the shining, innocent Son of Humanity. In and from the realm of the stars, all of humanity has labored to make manifest this shining being who would shepherd all the nations.

But, of course, the opposition appeared. Its seven crowned heads are the devouring negative spiritual forces that have ever sought to threaten humanity’s great soul and to prevent the birth. But the Son of Man was indeed born. He was not destroyed, nor was humanity’s soul. And Michael expelled the dragon from the world of the stars, from the night world. Humanity’s soul and all the good it brings forth are safe in the realm of night.

The dragon of the destructive soul forces can now only work on earth through our day being. Now he tries to destroy human souls on earth one by one. But we have been given the wings of the eagle, the far-seeing power of thought, of insight and oversight. These wings help us rise above the threat of negative forces within the soul. And our very earthly constitution, woven of wisdom, the secret, helpful will-forces connected with our bodily nature, these will-forces help swallow and neutralize our flooding passions. No feeling, however strong and negative, lasts forever.

 

Roland Tiller

The dragon, the old enemy of mankind, continues his ancient war upon humankind by attacking individual human souls. But Christ, the Son of Man, with Michael, his defender, has the power to heal the world; He has the power to transform all being, the power to elevate everything into godly being. Through the Christ-power of love, Michael holds the dragon beneath his feet. He helps us raise all earthly being into heavenly heights. He draws forth from our hearts the power to carry the earthly contents of the day into the divine regions of the purified night. Through Michael, our soul’s days, too, can now bring forth the heart’s bright Sun-child, here on the earth.