4th November Trinity 2017, Wounded Divine Human

4th or 5th November Trinity

The end of Revelations 22: 12-21

“Watch, I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me so as to give to each person what his deeds amount to. 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 who are 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 he who 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 his inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead him to full knowledge through the trials of destiny which are written in this book.

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

He who lends these words their power says:

“Yes, I am coming quickly!”

Yea, so be it. Amen:

Come, Jesus our Lord

The grace of the Lord Jesus, be with you all!

4th November Trinity

November 19, 2017

Rev. 22: 12 – 21

Life on earth unfolds itself in cyclic rhythms. In the fall, just where the leaf is attached to the branch, the new buds for next year’s growth are already formed. The new life pushes the old leaves off the branch. They fall to earth to help form the soil. The buds, still tightly closed, over-winter and unfold the following spring. This is a cycle of apparent destruction, but also the expression of an eternal hope. New life forms within the destruction of the old.

Today’s gospel reading from the end of the entire Apocalypse, stresses this same pattern in cosmic time: the destruction of what is no longer capable of life, in service of what is moving into the future.

The picture is given of a crowd of people in white. They are in a monumental realm in the world of spirit, a city, wherein stands a living tree that overcomes the death process. One can imagine this as the World Tree. Some myths picture it with leaves of sun-gold and moon silver, sparkling with star-diamond fruit. In the midst of this radiant tree, we may discern the human form of the wounded Sun-God, he who overcame death, arms outspread in a universal embrace of love.

The Selfless Self, the I AM, through His blood flowing from the tree of the cross,

rid human blood of the excess of selfish human egotism. He resurrected the diamond of Divine Self as pure sacrificial love for all. He invites us to join him in the creation of cosmic fruit.

Just as last year’s leaves fall away, so also must our leaves and layers of egotism be shed. They had their necessary time in human evolution, but now no longer serve. To join Him, we strip ourselves of the negative aspects of having an ego. We work to free ourselves from our enslavement to the lower senses. We struggle to rid ourselves of the desire to exercise power over others through self-assertion. We struggle to rid ourselves of the killing impulses contained in the aggression and hatred in our words and deeds. We turn to the world in interest and love.

This is the work of cleansing the garment of selfhood. This is the work that overcomes the cross of the death-force that we are all obliged to carry. It takes some effort to turn our interest and attention outward, away from ourselves. It takes creativity to put ourselves lovingly in service to others. This creativity around the good is what generates the budding new life for the next cycle. This creativity cleanses the garment of our egohood, and helps the wounded Divine Human create the diamond fruit of the future on the cosmic Tree of Life.

3rd Nov Trinity 2017, Enveloped in Love

3rd November Trinity

Revelation 21: 9-27

And he carried me in spirit-form up to a great high mountain, and let me see how the Holy City, Jerusalem, the City of Peace, descended out of the spiritual worlds, coming forth from the being of God, wrapped in the most intimate splendor of the revelation of God.

Her shining [gleaming] is like that of a precious gemstone, like the stone jasper, clear as crystal.

Her walls are of mighty size and height; she has twelve gates and at the gates stand twelve angels. On the gates are written the names of the twelve sons of Israel; three gates from the East, three gates from the North, three gates from the South, and three gates from the West.

And the wall of the City rests on twelve sacred foundations, and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb work in them.

And he who spoke with me carried a golden measuring rod, in order to measure the City and her gates and her walls.

And the City is spread out in a square; her length is the same as her width. And he measured the City with the measuring rod. It measured twelve thousand miles; the length and breadth and height were alike. And he measured her walls at one hundred forty-four cubits [ells], the measure of a man, which now the angel was using.

The covering of her walls was of jasper, and the City herself of purified gold, clear as glass. And the sacred foundation of the wall were adorned with every precious stone:
the first, a jasper,

the second, a sapphire,
the third, a chalcedony,
the fourth, emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth, carnelian,
the seventh, chrysolite,
the eighth, beryl,
the ninth, topaz,
the tenth, chrysoprase
the eleventh, hyacinth,
the twelfth, an amethyst.

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the city was of purified gold, like a transparent crystal.

I did not see a temple in the City, for the Lord God, Ruler of All, is her sanctuary, and the Lamb.

And the City needs neither sun nor moon, for she shines from within; for the shining revelation of God is streaming brightness in her, and her light is the Lamb.

And all nations shall walk in her light, and the rulers of the earth will carry their spiritual treasures into her. And her gates will never be closed by day, for there, night will be no more.

And all the shining treasures of the revelations of the world, and all the spiritual worth of the nations and all achievements of the soul will be brought into her.

And nothing can enter which is not spiritualized [consecrated], nothing which perverts the image of Man, nothing which remains under the power of the Lie, but rather only those who are written into the Book of Life of the Lamb.

3rd Nov Trinity

Nov 12, 2017

As we approach the ending of the year, we are given a mighty picture of the future of humankind. The image is that of a city, built on a twelve-fold foundation. These twelve foundations are pictured as twelve precious stones. They represent the soul and spiritual qualities, the virtues of all humankind. These precious gems of the virtues, the foundations of our own future, are

The amethyst of devotion, the hyacinth of equilibrium, the chrysoprase of perseverance; topaz of unselfishness, beryl of compassion; chrysolite of courtesy, carnelian of contentment, sardonyx of patience; chalcedony of courage, sapphire of discretion, the emerald of truth and the jasper [heliotrope form] of generosity of spirit.

It is the common task of humanity to develop these virtues, so that our next dwelling place, the new creation of the city of Peace, will have a firm foundation in goodness.

The jasper of magnanimous generosity holds a special place. It will rise as wall

s of love that will surround and protect us. And the openings through those walls of love are the twelve gates of pearl, that lustrous substance created in response to suffering. For it is through our suffering that we will ultimately enter the city of peace.

All these spiritual treasures of the soul of humanity make us into the Bride, the wife of the Lamb of God, who is Christ. For that is our ultimate goal – to choose, in love and devotion, to be wed to Christ whose fullness of Life is enveloped in Love.

2nd November Trinity 2017, Stand in Awe

3rd Nov Trinity
Revelation 14,1-20   

And I looked, and there was the picture of the Lamb, standing atop Mt. Zion and with him one hundred forty-four thousand having his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
     
And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens, a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.

And they all sing a new song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four thousand ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile themselves by the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed; they have remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which belongs to the Father God and to the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in their mouths; pure and unblemished are they in their innermost being.

And I looked and saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those live on earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel cried out with a great voice, saying:

“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs of water.”

And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen, fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”

And a third angel followed them, who cried out with a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness and accepts its stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like the pain of fire and sulfur.

Their suffering rises and darkens the encircling air like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.

And I heard a voice out of the worlds of

Spirit which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and labors, since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along their paths of soul, but have preceded them here.

And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle. And another angel stepped forth from the temple crying with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:

“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”

And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.

And again another angel came out of the temple in the heavens, and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out who tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who held the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”

So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on earth, and he harvested the earth’s vineyard and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.

Nov 5, 2017
Revelation 14: 1-20
Revelations 14:7

“Stand in awe of God and honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth….’ Revelations 14:7

This year’s leaves are falling from the trees. They have finished their work of drinking sunlight, and so the tree lets them go. But just where the old leaf attached to the branch, the tree has already formed the buds of next year’s leaves. The tree will remain standing bare, over-wintering, yet already equipped to be able to drink in the light of the future.

Our lives, too, have had their old leaves, long since left behind. Even our bodies have let go of old forms—infancy, childhood, youth, maturity—all give way. But the buds, the seed of the next phase are already laid down.

When the body itself falls away, we will find that we have already formed the buds for the next life. The reading hints at this: ‘Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him….Raise yourself in prayer….’ Rev. 14:7

Our prayers of praise and honor, our prayers of thanksgiving, form the buds for our future life after life. Praise and thanksgiving are the buds for a new humanity. Those who praise and give thanks in the purity of their inmost heart ‘…have been brought out of humankind to become the foundation of a new humanity, which belongs to God and to the Lamb. Rev. 14:4

And so we pray:

Master of beauty, craftsman of the snowflake,
inimitable contriver,
endower of Earth so gorgeous…
thank you for such as it is my gift.

I have made up a morning prayer to you
containing with precision everything that most matters.
'According to Thy will,' the thing begins….

I only as far as gratitude & awe
confidently & absolutely go.

…Whatever your end may be, accept my amazement.
May I stand until death forever at attention
for any your least instruction or enlightenment.
I even feel sure you will assist me again, Master of insight & beauty.*

*John Berryman, “Eleven Addresses to the Lord” in Collected Poems

1st Nov Trinity 2017, The Great Suffering

Durer

1st November Trinity
Revelation 7: 9-17

Next I looked and saw a great crowd beyond anyone’s power to count, from every nation and all races and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, draped in garments of white and with palm branches in their hands, and they shout with a great voice saying,  “Healing and help [salvation] to our God who sits on the throne and through the Lamb.”
And all the angels were standing in a ring around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and they fell down in front of the throne upon their faces and adored God saying,
Yes, so be it. Amen. [To our God be blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength for an age of ages. Amen.”]
All the blessing power of the Word, that creating permeates the world, all the revealing might of the spirit, that enlightens the senses appearance, all the light of wisdom that leads us to true knowledge, the secret of transformation which gives worth to all being, that brings the world forward, and all the strength and power of the spirit –they belong to our God from aeon to aeon. Yea, so be it, Amen.
And one of the elders spoke up, asking me: “These people draped in garments of white, who are they and where did they come from?”
And I said to him, “Good sir, you yourself know.”
And he said to me:
These are the ones just come from the great Suffering. They washed their garments clean and made them shining white in the blood of the Lamb.
That is why they can stand here before the throne of God
And serve him day and night in his temple.
The One who sits on the throne shall settle down upon them [dwell upon them].
They shall not hunger ever again, nor thirst again;
The sun shall not bear down too hard upon them, nor anything burn them,
Because the Lamb, in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd
And guide them to the springs of the water of life,
And God will wipe away each teardrop from their eyes.

3^rd November Trinity
Oct 29, 2017
Revelation 7:9-17

To extract the juice from the grape, it must be crushed. The useless is removed and the pure, and its strengthening essence is released. The grape must, so to speak, suffer so that its essence can flow outward.

In the gospel reading, we hear of those who have just come from the great suffering. From time to time, we too are crushed. It is not because we are evil and deserve punishment; it is because we are ripe. Our essence is ready to be separated out from the non-essential, from the useless in us. Meister Eckhart* writes:

   When I was the stream, when I was the forest….there was nothing
   I could not
   love.

   It was when I left all we once were that
   the agony began, the fear and the questions came
   and I wept, I wept, tears….

Christ is present within our suffering. He suffers within us. He wipes our tears.  He helps us separate the bitter from the sweet. He washes us clean and clear in the wine-blood of his lovingkindness. He leads us to the spring of ever-transforming life.  As Meister Eckhart continues:
 
   So I returned to the river, I returned to

   the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again.
   I begged—I begged to wed every object
   and creature,

   and when they accepted,
   God was ever present in my arms.

   …For then I knew my soul—every soul—
   has always held
   Him.*

Our purest essence, at the center of our being, is lovingkindness. Our true nature flows outward, to comfort and strengthen others. Our true nature is wise and knowing. Our true nature willingly undergoes a transformation so that the world’s evolution moves forward. We are crushed so that our pure essence, the lovingkindness of Christ in us, can flow out into the world.

*“When I was the Forest,” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, pg. 91

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