1st November Trinity 2009, The Grace of Beginning

1^st 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:

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 first born 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 aeon to aeon. 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 one-ness 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 Laodicia.

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 this 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 aeons. 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.”

1^st November Trinity

November 1, 2009

Revelation 1: 1-20

Today is revealed an image of the being who stands behind all humanity, who is the meaning of all human life. He is an ever-living being, born out of the death of the old, glowing with the life-giving radiance of the sun, shimmering in radiant power purity. He is a being who lives through all deaths, who is the new beginning beyond and through all endings. He leads us through all our own endings, through all our own greater and smaller deaths, through all our transformations. He leads us by example, until we too will be able to say with Him: I am the living one; I was dead and look! I am living…

 

And so at this time of endings and beginnings, we can hear the poetic words:

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge….

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life's desire….

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]  John O'Donohue, “For a New Beginning”, in To Bless the Space Between Us, pl 14

  

1st Nov Trinity 2010, All Eyes Shall See Him

1^st 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:

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 first born 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 aeon to aeon. 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 one-ness 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 Laodicia.

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 this 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 aeons. 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 31, 2010

Revelation 1: 1-20

As we in the Northern Hemisphere enter the dying time of year, we are immersed in the ebbing of natural life. Meanwhile spring is growing in the other hemisphere. 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. As light and warmth increases in the south, they wane in the north. In focusing on how little is left, however, we may fail to realize that the clock will soon be inverted. What we 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 Him 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 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,…[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]  Octavio Paz, in Sunstone/Piedra de Sol, translated by Eliot Winberger)

1st November Trinity 2011, Be Still

1^st 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:

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 first born 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 aeon to aeon. 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 one-ness 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 Laodicia.

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 this 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 aeons. 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.”

1^st November Trinity

October 30, 2011

Revelation 1: 1-20

“Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is coming.” Rev. 1:4

Rain after a long drought, or the first snowfall, brings us delight. We experience it as a gift from above. Grace, too, is a gift from above, a gift of light, of warmth, of strength. To grace is to adorn, to elevate. Grace contains balance and beauty.

The gift of grace is given to us by Christ, He who is the model, the archetype of all the gifts of grace. Along with His grace, He is giving us the gift of Himself.

He is, as John says, the archetype of trust. Because of His trust in us, we can find faith in life, trust in others, and in ourselves as we take our rightful place in God’s universe.

He, the first-born from the realm of death, gives us the grace of being able to be reborn out of the realm of death. For us on earth, that can mean the grace to rise renewed from all our changes, all our woundings and losses, all our little deaths.

He gives us all the grace to be priests, that is, to be connected in service to God and His angels, to be connected in service to others and to our own higher Self. 

And with this inflow of His grace, we feel a calm and yet dynamic peace. For we know that we are exactly where we need to be, doing the Great Work He wants us to be doing, strengthened by Him who is the prototype, who was there, for us, first.

 

In the words of Wendell Berry:

See how without confusion it is  

all that it is, and how flawless  

its grace is. Running or walking, the way  

is the same. Be still. Be still.

“He moves your bones, and the way is clear.”[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] “Grace” by Wendell Berry, for Gurney Norman, quoting him.

Picture of the Son of Man, woodcut by Durer.

1st November Trinity 2012 (2011), the Way is Clear

1^st 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:

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 first born 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 aeon to aeon. 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 one-ness 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 Laodicia.

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 this 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 aeons. 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.”

1^st November Trinity

October 30, 2011

Revelation 1: 1-20

“Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is coming.” Rev. 1:4

Rain after a long drought, or the first snowfall, brings us delight. We experience it as a gift from above. Grace, too, is a gift from above, a gift of light, of warmth, of strength. To grace is to adorn, to elevate. Grace contains balance and beauty.

The gift of grace is given to us by Christ, He who is the model, the archetype of all the gifts of grace. Along with His grace, He is giving us the gift of Himself.

He is, as John says, the archetype of trust. Because of His trust in us, we can find faith in life, trust in others, and in ourselves as we take our rightful place in God’s universe.

He, the first-born from the realm of death, gives us the grace of being able to be reborn out of the realm of death. For us on earth, that can mean the grace to rise renewed from all our changes, all our woundings and losses, all our little deaths.

He gives us all the grace to be priests, that is, to be connected in service to God and His angels, to be connected in service to others and to our own higher Self. 

And with this inflow of His grace, we feel a calm and yet dynamic peace. For we know that we are exactly where we need to be, doing the Great Work He wants us to be doing, strengthened by Him who is the prototype, who was there, for us, first.

In the words of Wendell Berry:

See how without confusion it is  

all that it is, and how flawless  

its grace is. Running or walking, the way  

is the same. Be still. Be still.

“He moves your bones, and the way is clear.”[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] “Grace” by Wendell Berry, for Gurney Norman, quoting him.

Picture of the Son of Man, woodcut by Durer.

1st November Trinity 2013, Warmth of a Star

1^st 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:

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 first born 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 aeon to aeon. 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 one-ness 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 Laodicia.

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 this 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 aeons. 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.”

1^st November Trinity

October 27, 2013

Revelation 1:1-20

Experienced bird-lovers can identify a bird on sight by its size and coloring. But even when one cannot see a bird, one can identify it by its song.

In the magnificence of this reading we both see and hear. The Risen Son of Man presents Himself, it is true, in a human form, but as a kind of human ‘bird’ with different plumage: snow white hair, eyes of flame, face of sunlight, glowing feet. He holds seven stars and a sword issues from His mouth. The vision may be strange to us.

But his song is distinctly recognizable. The voice of Living Waters sings: I was dead, and look, I am living. I bear the life of the world…. Mine is the key to the realm of Life. And you are connected to me. For I hold the star of the angel of your congregation in my hand.

Christ, the great Phoenix,  rises anew from the ashes. He is the new fire. And He is the living water. Perhaps we can feel, with the poet, who says:

Listen, I've light

in my eyes

and on my skin

the warmth of a star, so strange

…..  And

everything alive

(and everything's

alive) is turning

into something else

as at the heart

of some annihilating

or is it creating

fire

that's burning, unseeably, always

burning….[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Franz Wright, “The Fire”, in

God's Silence

4th Michaelmas 2007, Iron Strong Wine

2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19, 11-16

Colin Dye

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 strike the nations down, 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 Sunday

October 21, 2007

Revelation 19: 11-16

Dark iron ore can be used to make strong weapons. But it could also be ground up to make medicine that strengthens us and helps our spirits rise up and be radiant.

It can be helpful to see the elements of today’s gospel images as representing the makeup of all humanity. The white horse: the pure life force that carries us all. The Rider, faithful, true, discerning, fiery, regal, connected with our blood, created by the Word of God, the highest I AM. Only we ourselves can know, or begin to know, the mysterious identity of the one whose name is King of Kings.

                The white hosts on white steeds who follow Him could be all the souls or parts of souls from the ages, that have been purified by the leadership of this I, He who can fights evil and gathers together the good. His feet are grounded in the will of God, whose pressure in our lives separates the useful juice of the soul from the dross.

                This kingly divine being can be approached through the same qualities cultivated in ourselves: truthful discernment, the fire of love which culls the good from the evil. These are qualities of the name which no one knows but we ourselves – our own ‘I am’. It is our own higher self, riding behind the Lord of Lords, capable of love, of discernment, of saying no to what cannot carry us forward.

Remembering Him, remembering to connect with Him, enables us to band together.  Drinking in the iron strength of His wine, we become a bright and effective force in the world.

In the words of Hafiz:

Remembrance lowers the cup into

His luminous sky-well….

Every ill will confess

It was just a lie

When the golden efforts

Of your love

Lift the precious wine

To your mouth.

Remembrance of our dear Friend

Lowers the soul’s chalice into God.[1]

When the Nameless One debuts again,

Ten thousand facets of [our] being unfurl wings

And reveal such a radiance inside

[We] enter a divine realm.

[We] too begin to …cast light

Like a lamp

Through the streets of this

World.[2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Hafiz, “Zikr” [Remembrance], in The Gift, Daniel Ladinsky, p.244

[2] Hafiz, “In Need of the Breath”, in The Gift, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 225