1st Michaelmas 2021, Clothed with Mercy

1^st Michaelmas

Matthew 22:1-14 

And Jesus continued to speak in parables to them: 

"The kingdom of the heavens [arising in human hearts] is like a man, a king, who prepared a marriage feast for his son. And he sent out his servants to call the guests who had been invited to the marriage, but they would not come. 

Botticelli

"Then he again sent out other servants and said, 'Say to those who have been invited, 'Think, I have prepared my best for the banquet, the sacrificial oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered; everything is ready. Come quickly to the wedding.' 

"But they were not interested and went off, one going to his field to be his own master, another falling into the hectic pace of his own business. The rest, however, took hold of the servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 

"Then the king grew angry; he sent out his army, brought the murderers to their destruction, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'Although the marriage feast is prepared, the invited guests have proved themselves unworthy. Go out, therefore, to the crossroads of destiny and invite to the wedding whoever you can find.' And the servants went into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

"Then the king came in to see the guests, and among them, he noticed a man who was not dressed in the wedding garment [that was offered to him]. And he said to him, 'My friend, you are sharing the meal; how did you enter here not having a wedding garment?' 

"But the man was speechless. 

"Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him out into the darkness, where human beings wail and gnash their teeth. For the call goes out to many, yet only a few make themselves bearers of the higher life.' "

1^st Michaelmas

October 3, 2021

Matthew 22: 1-14 

Burning of cities, a good king casting out someone who can’t speak up—these elements of today’s gospel reading make us uncomfortable. What do these have to do with a divine King whom we would prefer to see as peaceable, merciful, inclusive? What is God like? 

This reading is, in fact, a picture of the relationship between God and present-day humanity. Something new and wonderful is to happen now. God has drawn near inviting us to a wedding, a celebration, a feast. The first call has gone out to a pre-selected group—those who perhaps could be expected to be close to him. But they have fallen prey to the dragons of indifference and extremes. The one wants to be his own master, set his own time, dictate how and when for himself. He refuses to respond. The second is overwhelmed by too many outer demands. He has no time to respond. And the rest are overtly hostile and destructive. Ultimately they receive back what they have sown as their own destruction. 

So now the wedding hall of the heavens is filled with guests of all types. Humankind of today, everyone, regardless of their moral state or apparent unworthiness, has been drawn into the hall of heaven. 

As was customary in those days, a king would not expect all such invited guests to possess the garments appropriate for such an event. His mercy and consideration are shown in that he provides a wedding garment for all who enter. Their mere willingness to accept and wear this mercy is all that is needed to feast in fellowship with the king. 

Who was this man who refused to wear the offered garment?  Someone who had come in through an improper entrance?  Someone who thought he ought to be acceptable just as he was? In modern terms, this would perhaps be like a wedding guest who climbs over the fence into a wedding reception in shorts. 

In this case, the man not only lacks the humility and gratitude to accept the king’s gift. He lacks that which makes us truly human—ego presence, human speech. He makes no apology, no offer to go out and come in the right way. He just sits there.  There is no interaction because he offers nothing of himself. That he is being cast out is merely the natural consequence of his own state. He lacks the strength of self to participate in a festival of the higher life. He cannot operate in that realm. So he must still spend his time in the ordinary world, limited in where he can go and what he can do, still subject to the soul’s tendency to swing between the extremes of high wailing hysteria and grinding anger.

Arild Rosenkrantz

 

Michael, whose name means “Who is like God,” helps humanity overcome the animal dragons of wailing and anger, stubbornness, and the egotistical dragon of total self-determination. He helps us rise above the dragon of haste that overwhelms and devours the self. Michael extends his sword of gleaming star iron in threat against our lower, egotistical nature. But for moments, he softens his glance, and he beckons. “Follow me,” he says. “I will lead you to the wedding feast in the kingdom of the heavens. I will lead you to your true king.” When we follow, in high earnest and courageous humility, we will be gifted with mercy.

10th Trinity III, Eternity That Shaped You

10^th Trinity III

Luke 7:11-17 

And it came to pass that on the next day Jesus went into a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. And as he drew near the gate of the city, they became aware that a dead man was being carried out—the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd of people from the city accompanied her. 

And seeing her, the Lord felt her suffering and said to her, "Weep no more." 

And approaching, he touched the coffin, and pallbearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!" 

The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Astonishment and awe seized all who were standing there, and they began to praise God and to glorify what was here revealed, saying, "A prophet powerful in spirit has been raised among us, and God has come down to us, his people." 

Word about him spread out into all of Judea and all of the neighboring regions.

10^th Trinity III

September 26, 2021

Luke 7:11-17

Iris  Sullivan

Every night we go to sleep. We meet with our guardian angel, our higher self and guide. We are cleansed of our fatigue and together we and our angel look back at the events of the previous day. We then plan for the coming day, what we need to do, how we will need to act. The next day, we rise to our tasks and inspirations.

When we die, we meet with Christ. We are cleansed of our weariness and ills. With him we look at our previous lifetime. And we plan for what we need to do and be, how we shall conduct our next life. After a rest, we will hear his voice, “Young one, I say to you, arise!” And we will be given to our mother.

Our fear of dying is sometimes a fear of not having lived the life that we intended before we were born. For we have all come with a unique mission. We would do well to pay attention to those glimmerings of inspiration, those subtle intentions, the angelic promptings that we bring back with us from sleep. For they are our day-by-day guide for living the life we truly intended. The poet’s John Donohue's words express the hopes of our angel:

Sulamith Wulfing

May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, that you may
glimpse your wild divinity.

…May the light of dawn anoint your eyes that you may behold what a miracle a day is.

May the liturgy of twilight shelter all your fears and darkness within the circle of ease.

 …May you find enough stillness and silence to savor the kiss of God on your soul and delight in the eternity that shaped you, that holds you and calls you.*

 

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* John O’Donohue, “A Blessing for Beauty”, from Beauty – The Invisible Embrace 

 

9th Trinity III 2021, Work of My Heart

9th Trinity III

Matthew 6:19-34 

"Do not save up your treasures on the earth, where moths and rust destroy and thieves tunnel in and steal. Save up your treasures in heaven, where no moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not tunnel in and steal. Because where you have gathered a treasure, there your heart will bear you. 

"The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is wholesome, your whole body is lighted, whereas if your eye is bad, your whole body is in darkness. So if the light inside you is dark, what great darkness! 

"No one can serve two masters: either they will hate one and love the other, or they will put up with one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and greed's demon of riches.* 

"Therefore I tell you, do not trouble your heart about what you will eat and drink or with what you will clothe your body. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds in the sky: they do not plant, do not harvest, and do not fill barns, and your heavenly Father still feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you, by being vastly concerned, add one moment to the span of your life? 

Jan de Kok

"And why do you worry about clothing? Study how the lilies of the field grow. They do not work, and they do not spin cloth. But I am telling you that not even Solomon in all his glory was ever arrayed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the wild grass of the field, here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will He not do much more for you, O small in faith? 

"So do not worry, saying, 'What will we drink? What will we wear?' The nations ask for all these things, and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Ask first for God's kingdom and its harmonious order, and these other things will be delivered to you as well. 

"So do not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow can worry about itself. Today's trouble is enough for today."

9th August Trinity

September 19, 2021

Matthew 6:19-34 

In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the time of harvest and of 'putting by.' Older generations may still have experienced how families canned and preserved what they grew. August and September were times of intense, hot, hard work, work for the future. 

In our time, such work is largely done on a mass scale for us by others. Even though we work hard now in other ways, we always have the opportunity to examine our attitudes toward things of earth. Christ gives us some advice about our relationship to earthly things. First, He begins by directing our gaze toward the way we perceive and toward what it is that we value. For what is primary is what lives in our hearts. If we perceive in a clear and accurate way, then our inner life is full of light, enlightened. We will be able to see clearly in two directions.

First, we will be able to see that an over-eager and hot pursuit of personal gain comes from a spirit of greed that is demonically driven. And secondly, we will be able to see the glorious beauty of the created world, and the care that our heavenly Father gives to all creatures, including us. And therefore, our hearts can be striving, but in peace, even when we are hard at work. The poet Alice Luterman says:

….I think all the time about invisible work.

…. all the while,

as the Chippewa poem says, I am being carried

by great winds across the sky,

thought of the invisible work that stitches up the world day and night,

the slow, unglamorous work of healing,

the way worms in the garden

tunnel ceaselessly so the earth can breathe

and bees ransack this world into being,

….

I stopped and let myself lean

a moment, against the blue

shoulder of the air. The work

of my heart

is the work of the world's heart.

 

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 *Mammon, the spirit of hindrances or avarice.

 **Alison Luterman, “Invisible Work” in The Largest Possible Life