8th September Trinity 2008, Growth and Shedding

8th September Trinity

Luke 17: 20-37

At that time the Pharisees asked him, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”  And he answered, “The Kingdom of God [The human Kingdom of the Spirit, permeated by God], does not come in a form which is outwardly perceptible. Nor does it come in such a way that one can say: Look, here it is, or there. Behold—the Kingdom of the Spirit will arise in your own hearts.

And he said to his disciples, “There will come times when you will long to experience even one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not experience it. Then they will say to you: Look—there! or Look—here!  Do not follow this call; do not go on their spirit paths. For the Son of Man in his day

will be like the lightning which flashes up in one part of the sky and yet instantly pours out its bright light over the whole firmament. But first he must suffer great  agony and be rejected by this present earthly humanity. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it again be in the day when the Son of Man will reveal himself: they ate and drank, they came together in marriage as man and wife, until the day when Noah entered the Ark and the great flood destroyed everything. It was the same in the days of Lot: they ate and drank, bought, sold, planted, built, until Lot left Sodom, and fire and sulfur rained from heaven and everything perished. It will be like that, too, in the days when the Son of Man will reveal himself.

When that time comes, let him who is on the roof of his house, having left his goods in the house, not go down to fetch them. And let him who is out in the open field not go back to what he has left behind. Remember Lot’s wife! For whoever tries to preserve his soul unchanged will lose it, and whoever is prepared to give it, will in truth awaken in himself a higher life. I tell you; then there will be two sleeping at night in one bed; when the power of the spirit comes, one is gripped by it, the other is left empty-handed. Two women will be grinding at one mill; one is deeply stirred, the other is left empty-handed.

And they said to him, “Where shall we turn our gaze, Lord? And he answered, “Become aware of your life body, and you will see the eagles that are gathering. [or, Where the formative forces in the human being begin to work in freedom, there the Spirit of the World reveals himself.] [or, Where there is descent and disintegration, there also is revelation.]

8^th August Trinity

September 14, 2008

Luke 17:20-37

There are creatures which, when they reach a certain stage, have to shed their skins or shells, in order to grow further. This is one of the great themes of evolution. Again and again there come nodal points in development when what is no longer suitable is expelled or left behind. Children regularly outgrow their clothes. We will all eventually shed the shell of our material body. In the future, in order to progress, mankind will have to shed materiality altogether.

Today’s reading touches on this theme of growth and shedding. Christ says that the future kingdom of God, when human beings will be filled with the spirit of Love, is an invisible kingdom, not a material one. It arises in human hearts. He uses examples from ancient times to illustrate that the evolution toward this invisible kingdom always involves moments like the Flood, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,  when the inwardly unsuitable, the outgrown, the not-love, has to be destroyed and risen above.

Uncomfortably, this entails suffering. All the elements of our not-loving will eventually have to be ejected so that we can ascend to the next stage. For, as He says, “Whoever tries to preserve his soul unchanged will lose it, and whoever is prepared to give it [that is, to offer up the soul to be purified of egotism and filled with love] will in truth awaken in himself a higher life.” Luke 17:33  He goes on to tell us not to worry or be too anxious about the falling away and disintegration of the old, the painful shedding of the shell. For where this happens, the progressive evolutionary forces within the human soul begin to work in freedom. There, in the cleansing, the Spirit of the World, who is Love, reveals Himself. He is working to create a new kind of body for humanity, His Body, a living tender, invisible form in which we will dwell.  He couches this in the mysterious formulation, “Where the living body is, there the eagles will gather.” Luke 17: 37. Those souls who can rise above not-loving will gather within Him, in His name, in his power, in his radiance.

Perhaps the words of the poet can illuminate:

My heart sits on the arm of God

Like a feathered falcon….

My piercing eyes,

Which have searched every world

For Tenderness and Love,

Now lock on the Royal Target—

The Wild Holy One

Whose Beauty Illuminates Existence….

Quivering at the edge of my Self

And Eternal Freedom….[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Hafiz, “A Feathered Falcon”, in I Heard God Laughing, Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 97.

8th August Trinity 2009, Search for the Kingdom

8th September Trinity

Luke 17: 20-37

At that time the Pharisees asked him, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”  And he answered, “The Kingdom of God [The human Kingdom of the Spirit, permeated by God], does not come in a form which is outwardly perceptible. Nor does it come in such a way that one can say: Look, here it is, or there. Behold—the Kingdom of the Spirit will arise in your own hearts.

And he said to his disciples, “There will come times when you will long to experience even one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not experience it. Then they will say to you: Look—there! or Look—here!  Do not follow this call; do not go on their spirit paths. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning which flashes up in one part of the sky and yet instantly pours out its bright light over the whole firmament. But first he must suffer great  agony and be rejected by this present earthly humanity. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it again be in the day when the Son of Man will reveal himself: they ate and drank, they came together in marriage as man and wife, until the day when Noah entered the Ark and the great flood destroyed everything. It was the same in the days of Lot: they ate and drank, bought, sold, planted, built, until Lot left Sodom, and fire and sulfur rained from heaven and everything perished. It will be like that, too, in the days when the Son of Man will reveal himself.

When that time comes, let him who is on the roof of his house, having left his goods in the house, not go down to fetch them. And let him who is out in the open field not go back to what he has left behind. Remember Lot’s wife! For whoever tries to preserve his soul unchanged will lose it, and whoever is prepared to give it, will in truth awaken in himself a higher life. I tell you; then there will be two sleeping at night in one bed; when the power of the spirit comes, one is gripped by it, the other is left empty-handed. Two women will be grinding at one mill; one is deeply stirred, the other is left empty-handed.

And they said to him, “Where shall we turn our gaze, Lord? And he answered, “Become aware of your life body, and you will see the eagles that are gathering. [or, Where the formative forces in the human being begin to work in freedom, there the Spirit of the World reveals himself.] [or, Where there is descent and disintegration, there also is revelation.]

8^th August Trinity

Sept 13, 2009

Luke 17:20 -37

We are once again in a rapidly changing season. The days are shortening more quickly; times and outer conditions begin to disintegrate as the old forms crumble.

The gospel reading warns us not to become too dependent on the outer, for the kingdom of God arises within us, within human hearts. This inner kingdom is a large one of varying landscapes—lush beauty, areas of desert, dark and light, and in-betweens. During dark dry periods we may seek for the richness of connection, but He warns us that He is there instantly and wholly ‘like lightning that flashes in one part of the sky and yet instantly pours out its bright light over the whole firmament’. Luke 17:24 He is not confined to one place, one person, one guru ‘over there’. He is accessible through our own inner landscape. He appears when the time for us is ripe.

When the disciples ask, ‘Where shall we turn our gaze?’ He gives a mysterious, cryptic answer: ‘Become aware of your living body and you will see the eagles gathering.’ Luke 17:37 [1]

Birds have always been symbols of thought, symbols of spiritual activity. He points us inward to the capacity of our life forces to create thoughts, to create inner pictures and images, memory pictures. This creative forming force in the human being exists right next to the place where the breaking down of substance in the body occurs. [2] This creative forming force, working on the ash-heap, can begin to work in freedom, freed from the necessities of the body (what shall we eat? What shall we wear? Matthew 6:25). When this freedom of thought begins to happen, into that free space between body and eagle, there arises the capacity to perceive the revelation of God, the lightning flash of His being. Even from the place of earthly descent, here where change means disintegration, He can be perceived. And so in the words of the poet:

…when we come to search for God,

Let us first be robed in night, …

To feel the rush of light

Spread slowly inside

The color and stillness

Of a found word. [3]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] The usual translation is "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." But the Greek uses the word ‘soma’, a word for a living body, not ‘sarx’, corpse. And ‘aetoi’ are eagles.

[2] So ‘corpse’ and ‘vulture’ are also not entirely inappropriate.

[3] John O'Donohue, “For Light”, in To Bless the Space Between Us, pg. 15

8th September Trinity 2010 Giving Thanks

8th September Trinity
Luke 17: 11-19

And it happened as he was on the way to Jerusalem that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.

And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and they raised their voice, saying

“Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!”

And seeing them he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet, and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus responded and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God’s working in this event except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise, and go your way. The power of your trust has made you strong.”

8^th August/September Trinity

September 12, 2010

Luke 17:11-19

  

A plant is rooted in the fertile earth, which gives it its strength. It blossoms and bears fruit in the light of the sun. We, too, are planted on earth. Much of our strength, our groundedness in upward striving, comes from her.

Our souls, too, have their ground. They are best cultivated in the fertile soil of trust, a trust in the divine and loving wisdom that permeates the universe. When we plant our hearts in the solid trust in divine providence, our hearts, upward striving, can blossom. The blossoming of the heart in the light of the universe is gratitude. Trust in providence and gratitude for all the events in our lives becomes our healing.

Gratitude lies at the very core of the Act of Consecration of Man, the communion service. We perform this service to divine providence, in imitation of Christ. The night before He was to die a human death, He gave thanks to His Father. He gave His Father an offering of deep gratitude before breaking the bread that would become His body; before drinking the cup of destiny that would become the wine of His blood. He offered Himself in a great blossoming of thanks for all that He had been allowed to do, and for all that He would be able to do in the future. He was thus able to reveal God’s work in the destiny of humanity, and the destiny of the world. He was able to reveal the healing of the world.

And His deep gratitude was returned to Him as deep strength for the days and centuries ahead. For Christ is still Here on earth. He deeply trusts in the workings of what His Father provides in the world. He is deeply grateful for all that He is allowed to do for the world. He is deeply grateful for all who join with Him in His work.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

8th September Trinity 2011, Our Tenth Part

8th September Trinity

Luke 17: 11-19

And it happened as he was on the way to Jerusalem that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.

And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and they raised their voice, saying

“Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!”

And seeing them he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet, and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus responded and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God’s working in this event except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise, and go your way. The power of your trust has made you strong.”

8^th August/September Trinity

Ten Lepers, James Christensen

September 11, 2011

Luke 17: 11-19

  

Sometimes the characters in a story can be a reflection of the separate parts of one individual human being. Today’s reading can be seen as the different parts of our souls. We all have nine lepers within, outcasts who stand by the wayside and beg for mercy. And when by some chance a hope or a wish is granted, we rush off to the priests, the representatives of the establishment, to certify that can return to our former community, to our old life.

Yet within is also the tenth part, the one who recognizes the higher self, the guide along the way, the Christ. This tenth part, this sliver of ourselves that is connected to our real future, recognizes Christ as the mediator of God’s healing grace. He turns to Christ to give humble but forceful and heartfelt thanks.

And Christ, our guide along the way, says to this tenth part of our soul, headed toward the future—Rise up. Continue on your path. Your trust in Me, in God’s power, gives you strength. The poet e.e.cummings captures some of what that tenth part of us can feel:

i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth

day of life and love and wings: and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any--lifted from the no

of all nothing--human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  e.e. cummings, Complete Poems 1904-1962

8th September Trinity 2012, Tithe of Gratitude

Luke 17: 11-19

And it happened as he was on the way to Jerusalem that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.

And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and they raised their voice, saying

“Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!”

And seeing them he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet, and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus responded and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God’s working in this event except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise, and go your way. The power of your trust has made you strong.”

8^th August Trinity

Ten Lepers, James Christensen

September 9, 2012

Luke 17:11-19

The ancient Hebrews were required to tithe, that is, to give one tenth of their income back to God by offering it to the temple. In today’s New Testament reading, one outcast in ten returns to give thanks to the Son of God for what has happened to him. We could read this story’s characters as being the different parts of one human being.

We all feel ourselves divided, ill, outcast from heaven. We ask for mercy, to be healed and rejoined to the community of the heavens. In the story, all ten who ask are granted their request. Yet only one returns with a heart-offering, a tithe of gratitude. However, Christ, the Lord of Karma and our Destiny-Guide, notes that this is only a tenth.

Do we remember to be grateful for everything that happens to us? For our destiny would be immeasurably aided if we were to give whole-hearted, one hundred percent thanks to God for everything that happens to us. In this way, we align ourselves with our own destiny. We receive it with an open heart. And we can work with it in a creative way.

We give thanks for everything, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’. For we know that Christ and our guardian angel mean only the best for us; they are always there to guide us, especially when we return to them with thanks. Knowing this and expressing our gratitude makes us strong. And this power of trust in the beneficence of God, becomes our own power to make good all that happens.

So we say in the words of e.e. cummings:

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:…

(i who have died am alive again today,

…

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing …

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] ~ e.e. cummings ~(Complete Poems 1904-1962)

8th September Trinity 2013, Feed the Living Divine

8^th August Trinity

Luke 17: 5-10

And the apostles said to the Lord, “Strengthen our faith!”

And the Lord said, “If you had faith as full of life as a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine [mulberry] tree: be uprooted and be planted in the sea!  And it would obey you.

Who among you who has a servant for plowing or for herding sheep, who will say to him when he comes home from the field, “Come at once and sit down at table?” Rather you will say, “Prepare the meal for me, put on your apron and wait on me until I eat and drink; afterwards you can eat and drink too.” Does the servant deserve special thanks for doing his duty? Think of yourselves like that; when you have done all that you have been told to do, then say: “we are feeble servants, we have only done what we were obliged to do.”

8^th September Trinity

Christ washes Peter's feet, Ford Madox Brown 1856

September 15, 2013

Luke 17: 5 – 10

As earthly creatures, we believe in the things we can see, hear, taste, touch.  We have faith that these things exist, and that what we do will have certain results. Our faith is like a tree planted in the earthly realm. It is rooted in our experiences; its crown is our thoughts and actions, based on what we see and hear and know.

Over lifetimes we come to develop certain competencies; we become masters in the earthly realm.

The sea has always been a metaphor, a symbol of the living, ever-flowing world of the Spirit. This is the world of our origins, the world that gave birth to the earthly.  In this reading, Christ is suggesting that we take our earthly tree of faith, of belief and trust in the earthly material world, and transplant it into the invisible world of the Divine Spirit.  When we do this, we become humble servants of the Living Divine World from which we have come. And interestingly, in the picture Christ uses, our first task is to feed and nourish the Master of the Living World.

We feed the Living Divine by offering the Master the substance of our noblest thoughts, the love of our hearts, our devoted wills. The Act of Consecration of Man is the archetype, the pattern and practice for how we do this. We listen to the Word of the Spirit; we offer ourselves in humble awareness of our unworthiness. What we offer He then gives back to us transformed, as our meal, our nourishment of soul, as nourishment for the world.

Christ himself enacted the archetype of the humble servant, in His washing of His disciples’ feet at His last supper with them. He continues to do so with us today.

7th September Trinity 2007, Levels of Work

Luke 10:38-42

7^th August Trinity

Now as they were traveling along, he entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha received him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary who was listening to the Lord’s word, seated at his feet.

Martha meanwhile was distracted with all her preparations. So she got up and said, “Lord do you not care that my sister has left me here to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”

But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

7^th August Trinity

Martha and Mary, Huis

September 2, 2007

Luke 10:38 -42

In The Christian Community, the Sunday Service for the Children speaks of the purpose of a human life: it is to learn to understand and work in the world. For millennia humanity has been practicing working in the world. But in addition there is another level of work we need to be doing: inner work. For the human being is also a part of the world that needs to be understood and worked in.

Martha represents the well-developed part of the human soul that knows how to work in the world. However, this constantly being drawn out into the world’s busyness is tiring and distracting. Martha is the part of us that becomes irritable and resentful because there is too much to do in the world, and we can’t stop. After all, if the Lord came to visit, surely it would be important to offer Him the best hospitality!

Mary on the other hand represents the part of the soul that begins to learn and understand that there is another equally important level of work – inner work. She not only receives the Lord into her home; she receives him into her heart. She is willing to engage in the equally important inner work of listening to the Lord, of letting His words begin to work in her. She works to absorb His words, to ponder and remember them; she works to tend the inner hearth.  

It is important for us to realize that we are not being asked to choose one kind of work over the other. Rather Christ is pointing out that our souls need the balancing of both kinds of work. We need periods of enthusiastic outer activity, of working in the world. And we need times of quiet contemplation, of listening to the Lord.

Christ’s word, in the gospels, in contemplation, helps us to do our inner work. His word cleanses our inner house of the soul. It scours away our negativity and stress, wipes away the soul’s impurities. His word lights the fire of love in the soul’s hearth. He helps us discern what is truly important, the good part, the real purpose of our life.