3rd November Trinity 2018, Eat the Book

November Trinity

Revelation 10

Angel of Revelation, Blake

And I saw another angel of great strength; he descended from heaven, clothed in a cloud. About his head the rainbow shown; his face was like the sun and his feet were like pillars of fire. In his hand, he held a small open book. He placed his right foot on the seas, the left on firm ground. And he called out with a great voice which was like the roar of a lion. The seven thunders answered his call with their voices. And when the seven thunders spoke, I wanted to write down their words. Then I heard a voice from heaven which said, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders said; do not write it down!’

And the angel, whom I saw as he stood both on the sea and on the firm ground, raised his right hand to heaven and swore in the name of HIM who bears the life of the world through all eons, who created the heavens and all Beings in it, and the sea and all Beings within it: time will be no more, but rather, in the days when the seventh angel lifts up his voice and sounds his trumpet, the mystery of the Godhead shall be fulfilled as HE proclaimed it to HIS servants the prophets.

And the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me anew: ‘Go and take the open book from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth!’ And I want to the angel and spoke to him that he might give me the little book. And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, even though it is sweet as honey in your mouth.’ And I took the little book from the hand of the angel and ate it. And in my mouth, it tasted sweet as honey; but when I had eaten it, it filled me inwardly with a bitter taste. Then it was said to me, ‘You must again be a prophet before the races and peoples and languages, and before many kings.’

3^rd November Trinity

Revelation 10

November 11, 2018

Peru, 17th century, anonymous

In this reading, an angel of great strength stands upon both the land and the sea. The air around him shimmers with the rainbow of promise, and his feet are grounded in the purifying power of fire. All of the elements, earth, air, fire, and water resonate with his being. He is a strong angel for our time.

He points to a distant future when time will be no more, and he holds a book. Perhaps the book contains the story of God’s evolving creation. It is both bitter and sweet. John is commanded to eat it.

The events of our lives, too, contain the twin components of bitter and sweet. And we, too, are to ‘eat’ them. We are to take them in, chew on them, digest them. They become embodied experiences, an embodied wisdom that allows us to rise above the current moment. Eating the Book of Life allows us to discern the patterns. It helps us to see ahead and thus to become ‘prophetic’. Our capacity to see ahead is called upon for the sake of all of humanity, 'for all races and peoples and languages,’ for the elements of the entire earth are being shaken.

There is another moment when human beings are asked to ‘take and eat’. That moment is the Last Supper, the first of infinite meals in which Christ himself offers as nourishment and strength. The strong angel of the Apocalypse is holding the book of human evolving. He gives us the strength to move forward with courage toward an uncertain, or even dire future. It will be sweet, and it will be bitter. But it is illumined by a rainbow of promise and strengthened by our communion with Christ. 

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2nd November Trinity 2018, The God of Life

Revelation 14: 6-13

And I looked and saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those living 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.

Memling

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.

2^nd November Trinity

Nov 4, 2018

Revelation 14: 6 – 13

With its hard, dry skin, a seed looks like a dead thing. When the conditions of light, warmth, and moisture are favorable, the cells of the seed’s skin die away. Inside is an embryo waiting, which swells and begins to grow. One root-shoot grounds itself into the earth, while a second leaf shoot struggles to gain the light. As we are approaching the end of the liturgical year, it is appropriate to hear a reading about endings, and what is seed-like.

This revelation to John features angels who urge us to honor the creative God of Life in uprightness. It warns of the ultimate disintegration and pain of those who misused their sacred creativity. It speaks of those who, like a seed that only developed a root and no leaf shoot, worshipped the beast of the abyss. And it assures us that our steadfast endurance of earthly suffering, our harboring of the healing spirit of love, and our trust in Christ are realities. By their own nature, these realities migrate into the light of the spiritual world. They are not lost, but they continue to exist there as housing and nourishment for our souls after death. For we do indeed have the power to create our own heaven or our own hell. In the words of Rudolf Meyer, one of our early priests:

Your kingdom of heaven, oh Human, is where you believe and love.

Rising toward heaven happens the more you practice love.

What is the human heart—bethink—if Jesus Christ,

The more He lives with us, the more he is in His heaven?

The Hell is in you, into which He descends

And also the heavenly kingdom in which he is transfigured.

Someday, when the coverings fall away, there will be announced and revealed

How deep hell’s ground, how wide your heaven was.

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1st November Trinity 2018, Angel of Hope

November Trinity

Revelation 7: 9-17

Next

Durer

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,

Yea, 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.

1st November Trinity

October 28, 2018

Revelation 7: 9-17

To live on earth is to be exposed to pain. Some of us undergo a lifetime of suffering; others less so. But if we experience it ourselves, or witness it in those around us, we all undergo pain in this life.

Why do we have to suffer? What is the point of pain? Pain and travail can open us, break open our hearts. It allows us to find true compassion. Its purpose is to create organs of perception.

The eye was created by receiving arrows of light, holding them and letting them form it into an organ to receive and organize a world of images. Just so within the soul; a process that begins with pain ends in conscious seeing.

Holding and working with pain creates an eye in the heart that can receive and make meaning out of what surrounds us. It allows us to form images, to become more conscious of what or who, stands before us.

Inna Myalo

It can allow us to see that an angel of hope* is holding a glowing light in front of our heart; a light to lead and guide us through misery. A light that shows us the way to the place where we can wash our soul garments in Christ’s healing blood. A light that aligns our thinking with truth, steels our will with the strength of endurance, drenches our feeling with love.

And one day we will recognize how our pain and travail has brought us to stand before an even greater being: to stand before the compassionate and loving face of God, who himself went through the Greatest Suffering.

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*Lorna Byrne, A Message of Hope from the Angels.

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4th Michaelmas 2018, The Name

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

Oct 21, 2018

Revelation 19:11-16

Dore

The Rider on the White Horse has a name that only He Himself knows. It is a name only He can say: I AM. I AM the I AM, who was, who is, and who is to come. Many crowns I have, for I have ruled over many ages. Once I appeared in a burning thorn bush. Now I appear as a Kingly Shepherd-Warrior. I Am cloaked in blood because blood is the carrier of living Selfhood.

We too, miraculously, bear the name that is both common and secret. For no one can mean what I mean when I say ‘I.’ This name is God’s gift to us, His gift of the seed of His divine essence. We too bear many crowns, the symbols of all that we have overcome.

The White Rider rides in our blood. One might say He helps us to conquer the nations in us, that is, to overcome our genetics and heredity. The warriors in white are all those overcomers who have already crossed the threshold before us. They come to His aid, and ours, in battling that which would subdue our true selfhood, put it to sleep; they come to do battle with that which would destroy the seed of the divine in us. The sword of the Word—I AM—cuts us free from deceptions, delusions, fear.  For only one force is true, faithful and truly sovereign—the greater I AM.